Piers Morgan leaked a private message Meghan Markle sent him before she was a royal, where she said she was a 'big fan' of the TV host

mfriel@businessinsider.com (Mikhaila Friel)

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INSIDER•January 17, 2020

piers morgan, meghan markle

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for BAFTA LA, Getty Images

• Piers Morgan leaked a private message that he claimed was sent to him by Meghan Markle in 2015, in which the then-actress said she was a "big fan" of the TV host.
• "When Meghan first slid into my DMs ... think it's fair to say she's probably not such a 'big fan' of mine now," Morgan wrote on Twitter.
• The "Good Morning Britain" star has repeatedly criticized the Duchess of Sussex over the years.
• However, the pair were on good terms until the duchess "ghosted" him after meeting Prince Harry, according to Morgan. 
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Piers Morgan leaked a private message that he claimed Meghan Markle sent him back in 2015.
Writing on Twitter, the TV host said: "In happier times... when Meghan first slid into my DMs... think it's fair to say she's probably not such a 'big fan' of mine now."

He shared a photo of a message that appeared to be from the then-actress, which read: "Well hello there — thanks for the follow. Big fan of yours!"

The date of the message shows it was sent in September 2015 — 10 months before she met Prince Harry in July 2016.
Morgan has repeatedly criticized the Duchess of Sussex over the years.
"Like all good actresses, Meghan knows how to distract attention and self-promote herself as a 'charitable' person," he wrote in his recent column for the Daily Mail.
"Yet what does it say about her that she would take a seaplane to go and see complete strangers (after taking four transatlantic flights between the UK and Canada in just seven weeks), yet has never once got on a plane to go see her own father after he suffered a heart attack amid the stress of her wedding?
"It says to me that Meghan Markle's pretense to be the Queen of Hearts is built on the flimsiest of self-interested sand. Oh, she's all heart for strangers when there are cameras around," he added.
Before she became a member of the royal family, the pair seemed to be on friendly terms.
According to Morgan, he met Markle for drinks at his local pub back in 2016 after a year of exchanging messages on social media.
On "Good Morning Britain," Morgan recalled: "To cut a long story short, we then spent the next year trading funny messages, then she began emailing me the 'Suits' episodes early."
When the duchess was in London to watch her friend Serena Williams play in Wimbledon that summer, she reportedly asked to meet up.
"She sent me a message: 'Hey, I'm in town, do you want to meet up?' and I said 'Sure, come to my local pub for a pint," he said.
However, the TV host says Markle "ghosted" him after she met Prince Harry in July.
"I was friendly with Meghan but she ghosted me. I am not impressed," he told The Mirror.
"There seems to be a pattern of her doing that to people, it's a bit worrying," he added.
"From my personal experience, she is someone I thought I was pretty matey with and 'bang,' she met somebody more ­important and that was it, and told other members of her show who I was friendly with to stop talking to me," Morgan added, referencing Markle's former cast members on legal drama "Suits."
"It is rather poor social climbing. The moment she met Harry she cut everybody off who she thought might be no longer desirable in her friend and family circle.