Simon Rex says Meghan Markle sent him thank you note after he refused tabloid request to lie about relationship

He says he has Duchess of Sussex’s letter framed in his home

Actor Simon Rex has claimed that Meghan Markle once wrote him a personal thank you letter after he refused a request from tabloids to lie about their relationship.

Rex, who appeared alongside the Duchess of Sussex in an episode of the 2005 series Cuts, discussed their relationship, and an offer reportedly presented to him by unnamed British tabloids, during an interview with The Guardian.

According to the Red Rocket actor, “several” tabloids offered him thousands of dollars to lie about his relationship with the former Suits star, an offer that he said he declined despite being “broke as f**k” at the time.

“I was broke as f**k! I really needed the money. But I’ll be on food stamps before I do that,” Rex told the outlet of the alleged $70,000 offer to say he’d had a sexual relationship with the duchess.

In gratitude for turning down the offer, Rex said that Meghan sent him a thank you letter, which he has framed in his home in Joshua Tree, California.

“She said: ‘It’s nice to know there are still good people,’” the actor said. In a tweet written after the interview was published, Rex said the story was “true” and that the duchess “has very nice penmanship”.

This is not the first time that Rex has opened up about the tabloid request he allegedly received, as he previously discussed the offer during an appearance on the Hollywood Raw podcast in 2020.

While reflecting on the platonic relationship he had with the royal, Rex said that he and Meghan “hung out one time,” during which they had gone for lunch, and that “that was the extent of it”.

“I said no to a lot of money because I didn’t feel like f**king up the royal family,” he said at the time of his reason for turning down the offer.

Rex’s claim comes after the Duchess of Sussex, who has had a difficult relationship with the British press, won a legal battle against the publisher of the Mail on Sunday over claims the tabloid breached her privacy when it published parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father Thomas Markle.

The Independent has contacted a spokesperson for Meghan Markle for comment.