Options for Sarah to recover from the 'Cash for Access' scandal

[Hissy]

Thanks Rominet09! Oh.... That's too bad because I thought it sounded cute for a kids book series. I guess she should have wrote about wizards!

If I am remembering right Fergie was or has also learned to fly helicopters to have more in common with then husband Prince Andrew. That's a nice effort!

[Zonk]

I wouldn't call the Budgie books a total flop, though I agree with Hissy that perhaps a book about wizards would have been a better sell.

Sarah wrote a total of 7 Budgie books, and the series was adapated for a short television program that ran for two seasons that appeared on ITV and Fox Kids. So that's not bad. Again its not like Harry Potter or Sesame Street but she got futher than a lot of other authors.

[Mirabel]

There was some difficulty about those Budgie books, though, namely numerous charges of plagiarism.
Although Sarah denied copying anything, those books bore what was called an amazing similarity to Baldwin's Hector the Helicopter books!

[Hissy]

Thanks Zonk for that added info . I didn't realize that the Budgie books had been made into a tv show, so that is quite good for her.

Hi Mirabel! Uh-oh, I didn't know there was complaints of plagiarism, hopefully those are not true. Fergie does have the background of Prince Andrew being a helicopter pilot to show why she would choose that at least. I will have to find out more about that. Thanks for the info.

I recall some years back that Princess Michael of Kent was also accused of plagiarism. She has kept writing though.

There is also a huge lawsuit currently against JK Rowling concerning the Harry Potter books by the estate of an author who is now deceased. I have to say the cover of one of this man's books shows the characters looking identical to the later published Potter books. Whether it's true, or not, the estate likely has little chance against all Rowling's millions so I hope that's not true because that would be too cruel for this man's family.

[Katrianna]

I remember the plagiarism complaints against Sarah, but I don't believe anything ever came out of that. At least, I had never read anything about further actions against her.

[PrincessKaimi]

There were two sets of plagiarism accusations (in the U.S. the word "complaint" can imply legal action - I'm not sure there was legal action, just trying to be clear).

One set of accusations regarded the books in 2007, and then the TV show in 2009:

Sarah, Duchess of York is accused of plagiarism - Telegraph

Sarah denied the charges, and I can't see that any case has been brought. Of course, the woman who says her ideas were "nicked" for the TV show seems somewhat low-key, even gracious, about it.

[Mermaid1962]

Sarah has come up with her own option for recovering the scandal: Blame the editors of the video clip. She was misquoted, apparently. I'm speechless.

"In her latest interview, Fergie insists that she was not being disloyal to Prince Andrew when secret video of her negotiating a cash sum for access to her ex-husband came to light last year.She says that a businessman, who turned out to be a imposter from British newspaper News of the World, wanted to invest in her company so she suggested that he meet her family."

Fergie flashes her toes in photo shoot as she reveals that Prince Andrew is her 'soul mate' | Mail Online

[kakieanne]

Is there anyone, anywhere, after all this time, that thinks that's believable?

[sliver_bic]

Originally Posted by kakieanne

Is there anyone, anywhere, after all this time, that thinks that's believable?

The point isn't if it's believable. As long as the media is willing to keep reporting it's better to keep talking.

No such thing as bad publicity is the way she's going. I mean it's essentially all bad publicity but she's in the spotlight, someone's gonna pay for her to appear, to talk. The worst thing that could happen to Sarah is to be ignored, so even if it's just to get abuse from readers, she's going to keep appearing.

[rmay286]

Sarah is just doing herself no favours right now. I thought she used to be pretty good at taking responsibility for her past mistakes, but it's like she can't own up to the present ones.

It was telling that Dr. Phil (in the segment shown during the Oprah interview) told Sarah that she was in denial about the cash-for-access scandal and Sarah denied it vehemently...said she was not in denial about anything, ever...and refused to talk about the cash for access sting because she didn't want the show to be "all about that." Um, Sarah - that sting is part of the reason your reputation is in the gutter right now.

It's funny too: Sarah gets so emotional when she talks about her marriage failure or how her parents or the media criticized her, but then when she talked to Dr. Phil about the NOTW sting she was just angry. I see a disconnect there...Sarah will go on and on about how she believed she was a "bad person" because of what her parents told her, but then when faced with the reality that she has done something ethically wrong, she will blame the media or optics or "I did it all because I had low self-esteem."

Originally Posted by sliver_bic

The point isn't if it's believable. As long as the media is willing to keep reporting it's better to keep talking.

No such thing as bad publicity is the way she's going. I mean it's essentially all bad publicity but she's in the spotlight, someone's gonna pay for her to appear, to talk. The worst thing that could happen to Sarah is to be ignored, so even if it's just to get abuse from readers, she's going to keep appearing.

I know! - it's all bad publicity and it shows how low Sarah has already fallen that she doesn't recognize this. She used to tell tearfully of how the media mocked her - but now she is actually setting herself up to be mocked, by using her mistakes as a platform for publicity. I know a lot of you complained for a long time that Sarah did nothing but talk about herself/promote herself, but I didn't have as much of a problem with it then, because it was usually in the context of an interview about something else...eg. Weight Watchers or the Young Victoria. But now Sarah is just feeding off the publicity from her own bad decisions. I agreed (that doesn't happen often!) with this comment on the Daily Mail:

Somebody in the UK must take action as this woman is single handily wrecking the British Royal family’s reputation in the USA and the English speaking word...Also, the more stressed and in debt she becomes the more likely she is to ‘reveal’ more secrets about the Royals, and for a price no doubt she’d even make a few up to sell her memories. She always was a loose gun, but even for her this is getting out of control.

Not that I think Sarah really has many scandalous memories to "sell", but I agree with the "even for her this is getting out of control" part.

[HRH Princess Sonya]

Originally Posted by sliver_bic

The point isn't if it's believable. As long as the media is willing to keep reporting it's better to keep talking.

No such thing as bad publicity is the way she's going. I mean it's essentially all bad publicity but she's in the spotlight, someone's gonna pay for her to appear, to talk. The worst thing that could happen to Sarah is to be ignored, so even if it's just to get abuse from readers, she's going to keep appearing.

Agreed. She is becoming more & more of a bad joke. Since the daughters are now grown if Andrew was smart he would publicly cut ties with her. Making it clear that other than the girls he is done with her. Otherwise she could potientally bring him down for good. But that's just logical thinking not emotions.

[HighGoalHighDreams]

Experience makes me think that this denial will be a great filler on Sarah's new show. I can see the previews now, with her wiping away tears and proclaiming that she is ready *nods strongly* to take responsibility for herself.

It's not pretty, Sarah, and it's not working.

[Kataryn]

I must say that parts of the interview sounded like blasphemy to my ears - and I am just a believer in God but not attached to any Christian church. But there only very few churches who recognize that vows spoken at the altar on a wedding service include infidelity - and the CoE is not one of them. So when she said: ""I love him. He's my soulmate. It's actually what we said in front of God at the altar: We honor and respect each other until death do us part. The only thing is, he has girlfriends and I have boyfriends." that's so blasphemic, as the part of honouring the other by being truthful and by showing respect to the other is so important. She did nothing but bring shame on him and now calls this "love" and honouring him.

Give me Charles and Camilla anytime - at least they repented their sin of adultary in front of the altar and have loved, honoured and cherished each other ever since. Sarah does not repent, she is IMHO not able to recognize that she sinned against God as he is believed in in the church on whose altar she took her wedding vows. And that's bad, very bad.

I have no problem with her commiting adultary and live after her own codex of "honour", but she shouldn't bring the sacrament of marriage and God into it. IMHO, of course.

[Russophile]

Originally Posted by Mermaid1962

Fergie flashes her toes in photo shoot as she reveals that Prince Andrew is her 'soul mate' | Mail Online

Here's another article I found that basically says the same thing, however the "I'm aware of my bad behavior and it won't happen again" Rings very false to me. IMO, she's bounced back and is going to do the same thing all over again.
Sarah Ferguson Admits: I’m aware of my bad behavior and it won’t happen again « Entertainment

However, seems she has a new book out. Wonder how that will do on the NYTimes bestseller list. As for Russo, she'll wait until the Library has a copy.

[Princess of Durham]

Somehow I find it difficult to believe that Andrew was not complicit in the "access for money" debacle. I guess time will tell ... or not.

[linda85]

Fergie, Fergie, Fergie! Sigh! Stop!!

[kakieanne]

Originally Posted by sliver_bic

The point isn't if it's believable. As long as the media is willing to keep reporting it's better to keep talking.

No such thing as bad publicity is the way she's going. I mean it's essentially all bad publicity but she's in the spotlight, someone's gonna pay for her to appear, to talk. The worst thing that could happen to Sarah is to be ignored, so even if it's just to get abuse from readers, she's going to keep appearing.

You're absolutely right. I was just so stunned when I read her comments.

How sad that someone who started out so refreshing and likeable should end up like this.

[kakieanne]

Originally Posted by Princess of Durham

Somehow I find it difficult to believe that Andrew was not complicit in the "access for money" debacle. I guess time will tell ... or not.

Well if he was and she took the fall for both of them, he would probably have felt obligated to stand by her and to pay off all her debts!

[rmay286]

Originally Posted by HRH Princess Sonya

Agreed. She is becoming more & more of a bad joke. Since the daughters are now grown if Andrew was smart he would publicly cut ties with her. Making it clear that other than the girls he is done with her. Otherwise she could potientally bring him down for good. But that's just logical thinking not emotions.

Sometimes I wonder what Prince Andrew really does think of what Sarah does. Does he ever tell her to rethink her actions? Or does he actually tell her to do whatever she wants...? Does he even pay attention to her interviews/programs? Probably not.

ETA: According to Sarah, this is what Andrew thought about the scandal. Oh dear...it really does get worse and worse:

"He felt very, very sorry for me," she told Harper's, claiming that the whole incident was a misunderstanding where she was actually the victim.

"He was so angry that I should have been trapped, 'cause he knows me," she said. "He knows I would never, ever put him in a position that would compromise him, ever!"

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/20...#ixzz1MvAxYosm

[Irish Eyes]

The point I would like to make is that none of this is surprising.
It appears Sarah was approached by Oprah within weeks of the scandal last year, and for whatever reasons agreed to do the show.
This might be because she had no other offers, it might have been the best of a bad lot, financially maybe Oprah made her an offer she couldn't refuse, or maybe she thought these professional and experts could actually her. Fast forward a year and she was always going to be making TV appearances and giving interviews to promote the show. I think that would have been very much part of the deal. She kept a low profile for months after the NOTW video, but now with the royal wedding and her TV show she's back in the spotlight. I think we can expect a few more interviews before the show airs, but I hope after the show is aired she will keep a lower profile. On the surface her comments re the string don't ring through at all, but already today I heard two IT experts on the radio and they were of the opinion that the video was altered with considerably.
(I didn't really understand the hi tech language they were using by way of explanation, but they were saying that part of her sentences were regularly chopped). If true, that begs the question why didn't Sarah speak up before now?...