Meghan Markle knew “her dad was being tortured” by the media but never contacted him, her sister Samantha Markle has told GB News.
Her comments come a day after Mr Markle suffered a major stroke that led to him losing his speech.
When asked by Dan Wootton whether Meghan has reached out to the family since the incident, Samantha said “no”.
She then went on to defend her dad over the ongoing feud between the pair.
Meghan Markle hasn't contacted the Markle family since Thomas suffered a stroke
GB News/PA
Samantha defended Thomas Markle in his ongoing feud with Meghan
GB Nes
Samantha said: “No, and let me speak to something very important, my father has a huge heart.
“And even though he was not in the wrong, although I’ve seen trolls out there and people on social media saying he was bashing her in public, no!
“He was defending himself and he was speaking truthfully while still always reaching out to her, he wasn’t bashing her.
“The public didn’t know, he was responding to a media agenda, he was responding to paid PR that made him look awful.
“Even though she didn’t publicly speak out against him, neither did she advocate publicly for him knowing that she was being tortured in the media.
“So when he was speaking out and he had a right to defend himself, that is not bashing.”
In the same interview, Samantha fought back tears as she lifted the lid on her dad's current condition.
She said: “He’s doing better, he’s in good spirits and it still hurts me to talk about it because he's been through so much.
“Two heart attacks, a pandemic and a stroke.
“I don’t think he saw it coming, I’m just so thankful to God that I called him when I did because he was slurring his speech, he couldn’t talk and I feel like If we hadn’t got emergency care right away it could’ve been fatal.
“I feel really blessed that he is getting some of his strength back and it’s going to take several, maybe six months, maybe a year to get his speech back.
“He can work with a speech therapist, the stroke he had in the speech production part.
“The stroke was in the right side of the brain so the damage was on the left and he’s left-handed but it also impaired his speech and his ability to swallow.”