Thomas Markle has strongly rejected allegations that he possessed child sexual abuse images, calling the claims “sick lies.”
The 82-year-old said accusations from his son, Tom Jr, that he downloaded illegal images onto computers and mobile phones represented “the worst thing anyone could accuse me of.”
The Duchess of Sussex’s father spoke exclusively to Our News Outlet from a Florida rehabilitation facility, where he is relearning to walk with a prosthetic limb. His left leg was amputated below the knee in December after doctors discovered a serious blood clot.
“I’m shocked, hurt and extremely upset that my son is making these accusations against me,” Mr Markle said.
“I could never do what I’m being accused of. It is the worst thing anyone could say about me.”
He dismissed the claims as “a bunch of lies” and said he could not understand why Tom was attempting to damage his reputation.
Meghan’s half-brother, Tom Jr, 60, made the allegations to The Sun. He claimed he discovered “hundreds” of child sexual abuse images on computers and a mobile phone stored in four large boxes allegedly left behind by Mr Markle when he moved from the Philippines to the United States earlier this year.
Thomas Markle has firmly denied allegations that he possessed child sexual abuse images, describing the claims as “sick lies” (pictured with his daughter Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, in 2011)
Mr Markle said his son Tom Jr’s allegation that he downloaded illegal images onto computers and mobile phones was “the worst thing anyone could accuse me of”
Samantha Markle, pictured with her father Thomas Sr and brother Thomas Jr. Tom Jr has alleged that his father downloaded child sexual abuse images onto computers and mobile phones
Mr Markle disputed his son’s version of events on Friday, saying the computers had not been under his control since he left Rosarito, Mexico, with Tom in January 2025 and moved to the Philippines in search of “a fresh start.” He said the devices had been packed in Mexico and shipped by sea, a journey that took several months.
“I repeatedly asked Tom to give me my computers back, but he refused,” he said.
Mr Markle has been estranged from his youngest daughter since her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry and has never met his grandchildren, Archie, seven, and five-year-old Lilibet. He said Tom had told him the computers were stored in the basement of the apartment building where they lived, but he could not understand why they were withheld.
“I have no idea who may have had access to those computers,” he added.
He said that after the pair moved into two neighbouring homes in December 2025, he became seriously ill because of the blood clot and spent time in hospital before entering rehabilitation.
Mr Markle said he continued asking Tom to bring him the computers, but was repeatedly refused.
Asked about a reported comment from a source close to Meghan suggesting the allegations might explain why she has had no contact with him since 2018, Mr Markle said he did not accept that explanation.
He said he and Meghan had enjoyed a “great” relationship before she met Prince Harry. However, he admitted he “stupidly” agreed to stage paparazzi photographs shortly before their wedding.
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Within days, he suffered two heart attacks and was unable to walk his daughter down the aisle.
Meghan’s brother Thomas Markle Jr (above) claimed he discovered the alleged child sexual abuse images at Thomas Sr’s former home in the Philippines
The development comes after the Duchess of Sussex revealed on Friday she had been made aware of the ‘troubling and disturbing’ claims made in 2018
Mr Markle has been in declining health for years. When he spoke to Our News Outlet, nurses at the rehab centre had just performed an electrocardiogram because his heart rate became worryingly high thanks to the stress of learning about his son’s accusations against him.
Mr Markle returned to the States for medical treatment in May.
Tom Jr claimed he looked into four storage boxes containing his father’s possessions in July this year to find a mobile phone for his fiancee, Rose.
When he opened one phone he said he was horrified to see a graphic child-sex image. But Mr Markle insisted: ‘I have never downloaded anything like that in my life.’
Tom Jr later opened a computer and said he saw a screensaver with ‘hundreds’ of disturbing thumbnail images. He claimed he also saw video of a young girl engaged in a sex act.
When asked directly by Our News Outlet, ‘Did you download porn on to your computers?’ Mr Markle replied: ‘Never. Never. Never. I have never done that.’
He said he would welcome a computer expert who could ‘autopsy’ the computers – clarifying later that he meant they could examine the machines forensically – to determine whether he was in possession of the computers when the alleged content was downloaded. ‘These terrible lies are being made against me with no proof,’ he said.
‘How can you accuse a man of something like this with no proof?
‘I have not spoken to Tom in months. I don’t know where this has come from. I can only think he’s doing this to make money. I go between feeling very sad to feeling very angry.’
Mr Markle has had a turbulent relationship with Tom Jr, who left his home in Oregon in 2022 to move to Rosarito, where Mr Markle retired after an award-winning career as a lighting director in Hollywood.
Mr Markle said: ‘Tom came to live with me after I had a stroke. I supported him financially. I’ve supported him financially for most of his life.’
He added: ‘That money stopped in July this year when a family member found he had been taking money from my account.’
Tom Jr made the first claims of finding the alleged child-abuse images a few days later, both to the FBI in America and to the US Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
This week he took the material to local police in the central city of Cebu in the Philippines in the company of a Sun journalist.
Detectives in Cebu have launched an official investigation.
