Meghan Markle‘s father was told unflattering photos of him drinking and entering a fleabag hotel taken by a paparazzi agency would be quashed if he cooperated with the agency and posed for a new set of photos, sources said.
“The poor guy was set up,” a source told The Post of Thomas Markle.
Coleman-Rayner News Picture Agency had been stalking the princess-to-be’s dad at his home in Mexico for months, said the source.
After getting some unflattering photos of him buying beer and checking into a cheap hotel room in California, the source said Coleman-Rayner approached him last month and offered him a deal.
“They told him if he posed, they wouldn’t put out the other pictures. They told him they’d make him look good,” said the source. “They also gave him a few bucks for his trouble.”
Markle posed for a series of photos, including one in which he was allegedly being fitted for his wedding suit.
The Daily Mail originally leaked the story that the photos were a fake.
A humiliated Markle has said he had a heart attack last week and was still in the hospital.
Although Markle said he no longer planned to walk his daughter down the aisle, a source said he is still planning to go.
Coleman-Rayner did not immediately return calls or emails seeking comment.