In a candid conversation, Thomas Markle revealed that he spent his "happiest years" with his daughter during her growing up years.
Thomas Markle, father of the former Duchess Meghan Markle recently revealed never-before-seen pictures of his daughter from her childhood, and what a trip down memory lane it is!
That Meghan Markle has had a rocky relationship with her father Thomas Markle is not brand new information. Her mother, Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle got married in 1979 and they had Meghan in 1981. He abandoned his family and they eventually got divorced eight years after their marriage when Meghan was only six.
But she met her father regularly at work. He worked as the lighting director and director of photography on a Fox sitcom and she went to the sets to spend time with him.
Time passed and Meghan started her career as an actress and claimed fame with her TV series Suits and moved out of Los Angeles and Thomas also moved. Meghan flourished in her life but he, on the other hand, hit rock bottom and declared bankruptcy over $30,000 in 2016, but Meghan reportedly offered plenty of help. “She’s been supportive of him in every way, including financially," an unnamed source told People. "She has paid many of her father’s bills over the years.”
However, even after Meghan's generosity towards him, Thomas has sometimes made harsh statements about her closeness with her mother. It is no news that the former Duchess is very close to her mother, Doria, who equally dotes on her and Harry. In a statement, Thomas had said, “Oh, she’s a mommy’s girl now and Doria gets a lot of the credit,” Markle Sr. told the Daily Mail. “But Meghan seems to have forgotten that she lived with me up until Doria and I divorced."
Fast forward to Harry and Meghan's marriage when the 74-year-old started an international scandal by admitting to staging paparazzi shots to repair his reputation ahead of his daughter's big day. After going back and forth it was decided that he will not walk his daughter down the aisle.
Their relationship saw probably a final turn when Thomas publicized a deeply personal letter that Meghan had written to him. This opened gates to a flood of scrutiny, judgments, and unwarranted commentary on the actress's personal life which would have been very hard for her to deal with.
However, nothing much was heard from Thomas for a while until recently when he shared some of Meghan's childhood photos after the royal couple decided to step down as senior members of the royal family. He revealed snaps from Meghan's childhood in the explosive Channel 5 documentary Thomas Markle: My Story. Meghan's estranged dad said, "When she was born I couldn’t have been happier. They handed her to me, I saw her face, her little fingers wrapped around my fingers and that was it, I was in love."
He added, "I just knew she was going to be special," reports The Sun.
He continued to say, "I was just knocked out by that child. She was just beautiful and I just couldn’t put her down. When I came home from work I would just pick her up and carrying her all the time." He added that not being able to attend her wedding left him devastated. "My daughter looked beautiful. I wish that I could have been there with her. I was certainly appreciative Charles was there."
He admitted that he is deeply upset over the fact that they haven't talked to each other for months together and that he spent his "happiest years" with his daughter as she grew up.
While this might come across as a tender gesture of a heartbroken father who wants to reunite with his daughter, it's really up to Meghan if she wants to forget the ragged past and welcome him home!
References:
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/how-long-were-thomas-markle-and-doria-ragland-married.html/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10803568/thomas-markle-family-album-meghan/
https://people.com/royals/after-ups-and-downs-meghan-markle-and-her-dad-are-in-a-good-place-now/