Former Markle Co-Star: I Was Offered $70K to Tell a Lie

One of Meghan Markle's old co-stars says he was offered big bucks to lie about their relationship, E! Online reports. Simon Rex, her 2005 co-actor on Cuts, claims "a couple of British tabloids" put $70,000 on the table to say he'd "hooked up" with Markle. "Nothing happened. We never even kissed. It was just like, we hung out once in a very non-datey way," the 45-year-old says on The Hollywood Raw podcast. "She was just someone I had met on a TV show and, like, we got lunch. That was the extent of it." But once the story of their lunch went public, Rex was apparently contacted by UK tabloids with a thirst for more.

"When that story broke, a couple British tabloids offered to pay me a lot of money to say a lie that we actually hooked up," he adds. "I said no to a lot of money because I didn't feel right" messing up the royal family. Back in 2018, UK tabloid the Sun quoted Rex as saying he'd blown it with Markle: "I started kissing her, but garlic breath ruined my chances. ... To this day that's like an ongoing joke—don't order the garlic noodles that ruined my chances!" Meanwhile, the New York Post notes, Markle is suing the owner of another British tabloid—the Daily Mail—for publishing a letter she wrote to her dad after marrying Prince Harry in 2018. (More Meghan Markle stories.)