Meghan Markle’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, has apologized for the mean letter he wrote to Prince Harry prior to the royal wedding.
Thomas Markle Jr, 55, shares the same father as Meghan Markle. When she was born in 1981, Thomas Jr was living with their father, sister Samantha, and stepmother Doria, Meghan’s mother.
Thomas Jr is one of the participants in Australia’s “Big Brother: VIP.” In one episode, he read aloud his apology letter to Prince Harry and Meghan over his mean letter for the groom-to-be before their big day.
His apology is a far cry from last week when he claimed Meghan behaved “coldly” towards her first husband and said Harry is “next on the chopping block”.
In the letter addressed to Prince Harry in 2018, he urged the royal to call off the wedding and warned him that marrying his sister would be the “biggest mistake” in his family.
In the new letter, the 55-year-old claimed that the disparaging statements he’d made about his estranged half-sister in his previous letter “came from a very dark and hurt part” of his heart, before insisting that he is not a “mean person at all”.
Big Brother asked contestant Luke Toki to convince Thomas JR to write a second letter to the royal couple expressing his remorse in an episode broadcast this week.
“Dear Meghan and Harry, the first thing I want to say to both of you is that I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart for the awful, mean letter that I wrote to you prior to your wedding,” Thomas Jr said. “And I want both of you to know it did not come from the real person that I am but came from a very dark and hurt part of my heart… I am not a mean person at all, and I have more love inside me to give than anything.”
“The letter was definitely written out of me feeling like really hurt and confused when I was informed of your response that I was distant family and that you did not know those people,” he said.
According to Thomas Jr, he also struggled with the instant attention that came when Meghan’s relationship with Harry became “known to the world,” with Thomas claiming that he “along with everyone in our family became public figures overnight” and that he had “no more privacy”.
He then referred to his original letter, in which he described his sibling as “a jaded, shallow, conceited woman,” as “quite possibly the biggest mistake of my life”.
“I feel like a complete a** for what I have done, and I am truly sorry for that,” Thomas Jr added. “Meg, if I could really turn the clock back, I would truly tell you that I am so, so proud of you and truly I am so happy for you and Harry. And I love you.”
“I wish you Megan, Harry, Archie, and Lili the happiest, most loving life possible. Sincerely, your big brother, Tom,” he concluded.
During the episode, Thomas Jr was also asked what it was like growing up with the duchess, with the Big Brother VIP star claiming that it was “fun” and that Meghan’s “first nickname as a child was Flower.”
When asked by Big Brother whether he knew Meghan had recently turned 40, Thomas revealed how birthdays would always feel like “Christmas Day” to her.
“The glow on her face, the excitement, and the happiness was like Christmas,” he said. “It was just like Christmas Day for her.”
Earlier this year, Meghan said that she “grew up as an only child” in her and Harry’s CBS tell-all special in March.
“I wished I had siblings,” Meghan said, confirming that she hadn’t seen half-sister Samantha Markle in nearly 20 years.
Meghan didn’t directly touch on her relationship with Thomas Jr at the time. Her half-brother, however, previously explained that he moved out of the family home when she was a toddler.
Meghan has never commented publicly on her relationship with Thomas Markle Jr.
Meghan and Harry now have two children of their own, Archie, 2, and Lilibet, 5 months. The babies haven’t met their mother’s half-siblings or father yet.
The only family member from Markle’s side present on her big day was her mom, Doria Ragland.