This is a lot to take in: British media allegedly offered Meghan Markle’s “ex” Simon Rex to lie about sex with the actress before Megxit. The 45-year-old Scary Movie 3 actor is often pegged as the Duchess’ ex-boyfriend—but in a new interview with the Hollywood Raw podcast in March 2020, Rex claims his relationship with Markle was always platonic.

“Nothing happened [between Meghan and me],” he said during the podcast. “We never even kissed. It was just, like, we hung out once in a very non-datey way. She was just someone I had met on a TV show and, like, we got lunch. That was the extent of it.”

Yet given Markle’s feud with British media, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that outlets pounced on the friendly lunch with a different angle. According to Rex, press sources immediately reached out for comment. Some of them even bribed him to spin the story.

“The tabloids, actually, 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,” Rex explained. “And dude. I said no to a lot of money because I didn’t feel right lying and fucking up the royal fucking family….”

It appears that British tabloids were fully prepared to do anything to sully Markle’s image. Including a hefty payout: “It was a lot of money, man,” Rex remembered. “I think they offered me, like, $70,000.” Yikes.

Source: Instagram

As we all know, this isn’t Meghan Markle’s first rodeo with the British media. In fact, the Duchess filed a lawsuit in 2019 against outlets like The Daily Mail for publishing multiple false, defamatory stories. She even opened up about the toll it’s taken on her mental health, especially as a new mom to Baby Archie.

In 2019, the Duchess admitted that the pressures from tabloids, coupled with her role as a new mom and royal, was all a “very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.” When asked by an ITV reporter whether it’s “really been a struggle,” and if she’s “not really ok,” the 38-year-old replied, “yes.”

If anyone needed any proof that Meghan’s fears and struggles were legitimate, let this be it.