Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have hit back at new bombshell claims in a new cover story regarding how Netflix reacted to their Oprah Winfrey interview. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made headlines in 2021 when they gave an interview to the US TV star, making various allegations about the royals and their lives within the firm.
At the time, Harry and Meghan had already struck a deal with Netflix, following their sensational exit from the Firm in early 2020. Now, Hollywood bible Variety made a series of claims in a scathing new report about the couple, including how the streaming giant was “blindsided” by their Oprah interview, with “many annoyed by the lack of communication”.
The report claimed: “Sources say that the company only discovered at the last minute that the Sussexes would sit with Winfrey and share intimate, headline-grabbing details of their lives.”
A Sussex spokesperson said the claim that Netflix was unaware of the Oprah interview was “categorically false,” adding that “Netflix and Archewell had legal counsel involved to oversee the evolution of the deal, as is common practice for any deal changes in Hollywood.”
Another claim was that Netflix was cautious about Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir, which ended up getting released in early January 2023. The Sussexes released their bombshell docuseries, Harry & Meghan, just a month earlier, in December 2022.
The report claimed: “Netflix approached the couple to discuss how a potential book deal would impact the release of the docuseries. Sources say Meghan downplayed the auction, telling Sarandos that any publication would be far in the future, if it happened at all.”
Meghan’s spokesperson dismissed this claim too, saying it is “categorically untrue — there was open communication with Netflix months before release to co-ordinate timing between book and series.”
Sources alleged that, even in spring 2021, the streamer was “blindsided” by news that Penguin Random House was indeed publishing the Harry memoir, Spare.
The publishing house did not comment on the claim.
A Netflix source said the plan was always to air Harry & Meghan in December 2022, though two sources said plans ultimately changed to get ahead of the memoir.