An ex-boyfriend from Meghan Markle’s childhood is speaking out this week to reveal all about her “complicated” relationship with her estranged father, Thomas Markle.

“I knew her dad growing up as kids,” Joshua Silverstein, an ex-boyfriend of Meghan’s, told US Weekly. “I didn’t see him often … but I did know that Meghan’s relationship with her dad was complicated and I understood that as most teenager-to-parent relationships are.”

Though Joshua said he had a closer connection to Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, he added that he noticed the “challenging” dynamic between her and her dad.

“Being there when Meghan’s parents were divorced at that time … it’s hard raising your kids without the secondary parent,” he said. “It’s all challenging. I don’t think there was anything specifically surprising to find out at that time because there were a lot of people that I knew [who] had challenging relationships with their parents. But I did know about it.”

While Thomas confessed that he “couldn’t speak to the specificity of what Meghan went through” with Thomas, he remembered having “very cordial” interactions with the father. He thought their relationship “might have been strained” at the time as a result of the divorce, and he has been sad to see how apart they’ve grown over the years.

“I think at the end of the day, we’re all human beings and we all have to create boundaries with people that we may not want to create boundaries with … but at the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for you and your family,” said Joshua. “If that means creating a boundary with your parents, sometimes that’s what you have to do.”

Meghan and Thomas have been estranged ever since he did not attend her wedding to Prince Harry back in 2018. She opened up about this a bit in her interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this month.

“I grieve a lot,” Meghan said. “I mean, I’ve lost my father. I lost a baby. I nearly lost my name. I mean, there’s the loss of identity. But I’m still standing, and my hope for people in the takeaway from this is to know that there’s another side.”