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I’ve tried to avoid the hoopla and hubbub surrounding Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding. Still, the news of the nuptials and her relatives’ responses to them have been all over the news.
It’s hard to avoid.
Today, the story is about whether or not Meghan Markle’s father, 73-year-old Thomas Markle, will walk his daughter down the aisle. As we reported earlier, Thomas is avoiding one the most-talked-about social events of the year because he’s ashamed of the money he took from paparazzi to be photographed in preparation for the event.
There’s also the fact that he had a heart attack last week. But people don’t seem to be as concerned with that tidbit.
While Thomas said he wouldn’t be able to make it, now TMZ is reporting that he does indeed want to be there. Thomas told TMZ that he’s back in the hospital after experiencing chest pains. Doctors are in the midst of performing a series of tests on him. They’ve told him that his heart is seriously damaged after the heart attack last week.
Thomas said Meghan tried calling him on Monday but he was not near his phone. She followed up with a text saying she loved him and was concerned about this health. She told him that she harbored no ill feelings for the paparazzi photos.
He now believes that his decision to pose for the photos wasn’t a serious transgression, though he does believe it was a stupid move. Now, he says he wants to make the effort to travel to London for the wedding.
“I hate the idea of missing one of the greatest moments in history and walking my daughter down the aisle.”
Thomas said if doctors let him out of the hospital, he will risk his health and fly to England. Thomas has asked to be released on Wednesday but doctors have been noncommittal in their response.
As for the upcoming wedding, he said, “Of course I’d walk her down the aisle. This is a historic moment. I’d like to be a part of history.”
Whew Chile.
Between his health conditions, his wavering, Meghan’s stepsister Samantha talking trash about her sister, and her brother telling Prince Harry to cancel the wedding, the whole thing has caused so much more drama than I think any of us anticipated. And as much as I’ve tried to distance myself from the story, I’m truly sorry that Markle has to put up with this additional stress days before she ties the knot.
But I would be lying if I said that I’m so elated that it’s Meghan’s White side of the family that’s stirring up all this confusion and not her Black side. There were already folk who had more than a mouthful to say or paragraph to type when it came to why Markle wouldn’t work as a “princess.” And her Black family acting out in public would have done nothing but add fuel to that fire. In fact her White father, with all the foolishness, has solicited a bit of sympathy.
And I get it. With a whole heart attack, he most certainly deserves it. But if this were her Black Daddy, waffling about whether or not he would be in attendance at his biracial daughter’s wedding day? Hell, from all four corners of the earth, would have broken loose. Absentee father tropes would have been called upon. People would have been asking what her White mama ever saw in him. White folk would have been using it against her. The racist troll bots would have used this trash behavior and applied it to all of us. And the very same Black folk who have been celebrating this moment would have likely hung their heads in shame at our cousins acting a f*cking fool on an international stage.
Check out a couple of thoughts regarding the shenanigans on the following pages.
