A two-year restraining order has been placed against Thomas Markle – Meghan Markle’s father – in an ongoing row with a tabloid owner. A judge reportedly granted a civil harassment restraining order against Thomas Markle to Jeff Rayner – a co-owner of the Los Angeles tabloid media group Coleman-Rayner.
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Death threat?
This comes after Rayner claimed that he feels threatened by Meghan’s father Thomas, who has allegedly also given him a death threat. According to the document attained by ET, the restraining order is for two years and will end on September 13.
Thomas did not attend the hearing on Tuesday, but Rayner and his lawyer were there. The row intensified with the contents of Tom Boyer's book Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors.
In an excerpt, Rayner claimed Thomas threatened to kill him and vowed to murder him in response to a tabloid photo scandal. The 78-year-old quoted in the book:
I got screwed by Rayner and I'm going to find a way to screw him over before I die. I want to tear him down. If they tell me I've got terminal cancer, then I'll kill him because I have nothing to lose.
The media mogul claimed that the purported threat gave him tension, anxiety, and a sense of unease about his safety.
What’s the history?
According to reports, Thomas and Rayner have been at odds for a long time. Thomas filed a lawsuit against Coleman-Rayner in 2021. Thomas said he lost his relationship with Meghan and Prince Harry as a result of the staged paparazzi photos of himself in 2018.
The photos were allegedly published by violating a contract and without taking his approval. Thomas became entirely estranged in the wake of the paparazzi photo controversy and even skipped attending his own daughter’s wedding.
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