On Tuesday, Jeff Rayner, the owner of Coleman-Rayner, was granted a civil harassment restraining order against Meghan Markle's father, Thomas Markle in Los Angeles, according to a document obtained by ET.
Rayner and his attorney were present for the hearing on Tuesday, while Thomas was not in attendance. The doc noted, however, that Thomas was properly served with the court papers following the judge's decision to Rayner a restraining order.
The restraining order is valid for two years, therefore expiring on Sept. 13, 2024. ET has reached out to Thomas' legal team for comment.
According to a document obtained by TMZ in August, the request for a restraining order came after Tom Boyer's book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between The Windsors, was published with an alleged death threat from Thomas.
In the book, the 78-year-old is quoted as saying, "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."
This comes one year after Thomas filed a handwritten civil suit against Coleman-Rayner for the staged paparazzi photos of himself in 2018, saying they violated their contract with him by not allowing him to approve the pictures before they were published, according to USA Today.
Following Thomas' filing in November 2021, Coleman-Rayner issued a statement to USA Today attributed to their lawyer, saying, "Mr. Markle’s hand-written court filing is so obviously frivolous that Mr. Markle, USA Today and anyone else who republishes the details of Mr. Markle’s court filing, will be liable to Coleman-Rayner for defamation."
Meghan's strained relationship with her dad has been highly-publicized over the years. It all began in 2018, when Thomas made headlines after he staged paparazzi photos ahead of Meghan's wedding to Prince Harry. Thomas would go on to do multiple interviews regarding the incident, despite not attending the royal wedding after he suffered a heart attack.
"She has not spoken to her father in more than 10 weeks since her wedding and is still hurt by her father, who has both staged the photos and continues to give paid interviews," a source told ET in August 2018 about Meghan's feelings. "The Palace is at a loss of what to do and is reevaluating options, including a more aggressive strategy to stem the embarrassment caused by Meghan's dad, half-sister and half-brother."
More recently, Meghan opened up about her rocky relationship with Thomas during an interview with The Cut published last month. "Harry said to me, 'I lost my dad in this process.' It doesn't have to be the same for them as it was for me, but that's his decision," she said, blaming tabloid culture for tearing her family apart. (She later clarified that her comments were, in fact, about her relationship with her dad, not Harry's relationship with his father, King Charles III.)
Meghan also shared that she's willing to work at mending her relationships with both her family and her in-laws.
"I think forgiveness is really important. It takes a lot more energy to not forgive," she explained. "But it takes a lot of effort to forgive. I've really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything. ... I have a lot to say until I don't. Do you like that? Sometimes, as they say, the silent part is still part of the song."
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