The Duchess of Sussex has blamed British tabloids for destroying her relationship with her father, claiming he received “significant payments” for providing quotes to newspapers and commentators. Meghan’s lawyers said she and Thomas Markle “had a very close father/daughter relationship throughout her childhood and remained close until he was targeted three years ago by intrusive UK tabloid media”. Details of their financial relationship were set out in the latest legal disclosures as part of her lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday over its decision to publish a handwritten letter she sent to her father. They state that Meghan provided her father with “substantial” financial support from 2014 onwards when she was at the height of her fame as an actor in Suits. She cut off the money in May 2018 after their relationship broke down around the time of her wedding to Prince Harry, and they have not spoken since. People close to Meghan accused the Mail on Sunday of abusing the British court system to create negative headlines by forcing her to disclose round after round of personal information. “We believe the Mail is no longer using the litigation process for its defence and is fixated on trying to cause more harm through headline generation,” said a source. The newspaper’s lawyers have continually requested clarifications on aspects of her legal case, forcing Meghan to disclose more and more personal information, which has created further negative press coverage. The source claimed: “They are focused on dragging this process out and are abusing the court process to use irrelevant personal details for ‘exclusives’ prior to trial in order to hide their unlawful actions and distract from the matter at the heart of this case.” In the latest request for clarification, the Mail on Sunday’s lawyers asked Meghan to provide evidence that she had provided financial support to her father, with the newspaper implying she had not repaid a student loan her father had taken out to support her university education. Meghan’s lawyers said she had been unaware that any repayments on the student loan were still being made by her father when she began giving him money. They said the financial relationship went both ways: “[Meghan] always maintained full-time jobs while auditioning, both as a professional calligrapher as well as working in a restaurant. [Her] father gave occasional financial support to [her], just as she provided reciprocal financial support to him once she began earning.”