Have you ever been in a Turkish prison? Sarah Ferguson almost was. From shocking tabloid bullies
to getting her toes sucked by a billionaire, Fergie's royal life has never been a fairytale.
Sarah Ferguson's heartache began at a young age,
since she had a troubled upbringing seemingly caused by her mother. Ferguson talked about
their difficult relationship on her 2011 reality TV show "Finding Sarah," recalling:
"She used to hit me because I didn't sit on my potty or wouldn't eat,
a little vein would come up on the center of my head near my red hair."
Her mother apparently even taunted those attributes, telling her,
"'You've got the sign of the devil. I'm going to beat that devil out!'"
Yet, Ferguson was still completely devastated when her mother moved to
Argentina with her new husband after her parents got divorced. She explained to The Guardian,
"I believed it was my fault — of course I did. She hardly contacted me at all."
Ferguson then turned to eating for comfort, which began her lifelong struggle with food.
Even before her mother's departure, Ferguson was made to feel bad about how she looked, saying:
"I was brought up to believe that I was this monster and
that I was given to her by the postman."
"Do you think that's added to your lack of self-worth?"
"Oh Yeah."
"Duh!"
"Duh."
Both of Ferguson's parents have since died,
her mother suddenly in a 1998 car crash. Hello! reports that Ferguson expressed how
she'd forgiven her mother in a letter written to her decades after her untimely death.
Sarah Ferguson not only struggled with disordered eating throughout her life
but was even frequently criticized for her weight. As mentioned above, the Duchess of
York began emotionally eating as a child, with her recalling in a 2020 op-ed for The Sun,
"I started comfort eating at boarding school and I'd pile on the pounds."
She continued to use food to cope into adulthood, too. What made matters worse,
though, was that the media often bullied Ferguson because of it,
even giving her cruel nicknames. She previously told Hello!:
"It took courage to go out in public in all the years I have been overweight.
Every time there was a 'Duchess of Pork' or 'Fat Frumpy Fergie' headline,
they didn't have any idea they were reaching to the depths of my soul."
"So many people can write horrible things,
and every day somebody writes absolutely diabolical things about me."
That also made Ferguson feel like she was stuck in a hopeless cycle. However,
Ferguson eventually did lose the weight, after not only becoming an ambassador for Weight Watchers,
but also by sticking to a consistent diet and exercise routine. Yet, despite her weight loss,
she still struggled with her self-image. She explained to The New York Times in 2003:
"I've still got fat lady syndrome. […] Once you have a weight problem,
you believe you'll always have a problem."
It seems that Sarah Ferguson never got over having to divorce her former husband, Prince Andrew,
despite their ups and downs. The two tied the knot in 1986, and while she was in love with him, their
marriage didn't turn out as she expected. That's because Ferguson rarely saw her husband, telling
Harper's Bazaar in 2007 that he was away most of the time for his Naval career. She explained:
"I loved him — and still do — my only condition being, 'I have to be with you.'"
His absence was especially challenging during Ferguson's first pregnancy,
as well as after she gave birth, with her recalling of The Firm:
"When he left and I cried, they all said: 'Grow up and get a grip.'"
"I want to see my husband."
It seems their time apart and the infidelity rumors,
particularly on Ferguson's end, resulted in them separating in 1992. However,
they didn't officially divorce until 1996, with Ferguson admitting,
"I didn't want a divorce but had to because
of circumstances. [It was] the most painful time of my life."
The mother-of-two had apparently felt she had no choice, because she wanted to work,
and it was against royal protocol for her to do so.
Like the rest of the world, Sarah Ferguson suffered a great loss when
Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in 1997, but for the Duchess of York,
Diana's death was much more personal. That's because the two women had always been close,
even before they became royals. Ferguson recalled to People:
"We were best friends from when she was 14 and I
was 15. […] We used to have the most incredible time together."
They also famously stuck by each other through their respective divorces,
which shook up the rest of the royal family.
Unfortunately, Ferguson and Diana ended up having a falling out shortly before
Diana's death, which Ferguson seemingly regrets to this day.
"Now it's not a fairy tale. It's real life in there."
Ferguson said she tried to reach out to Diana, which probably would have ended it
if things turned out differently. She explained to Harper's Bazaar:
"I knew she'd come back. In fact, the day before she died she rang
a friend of mine and said, 'Where's that Red? I want to talk to her.'"
Despite how things were left,
Ferguson insisted it didn't take away from their special bond, telling People:
"We promised each other we would always be
together — there was never any daylight between us."
It's evident that Sarah Ferguson was heavily criticized by the British press,
yet it was one incident in particular that was especially humiliating and seemingly cost her the
support of most of the royal family. In 1992, when Ferguson was on holiday in St. Tropez, photos of
her were taken as she laid topless by a pool while Texas millionaire John Bryan sucked her toes.
The pictures were plastered all over the news, and although Ferguson was
separated from Prince Andrew at the time, rumors of her having an affair followed.
If that wasn't bad enough, Ferguson was basically disowned by some of the other royals,
including Prince Andrew's father, Prince Philip, who reportedly refused to speak to her after that.
Andrew's aunt, Princess Margaret, was much more brutal, having reportedly sent Ferguson a nasty
letter in response to flowers she sent her. Per The Telegraph, Margaret allegedly wrote,
"You have done more to bring shame on the family than could ever have been imagined."
Ferguson didn't address the scandal until years later.
Despite marrying into the royal family, Sarah Ferguson was in debt for years,
at one point even close to declaring bankruptcy. According to ABC News,
her money problems began in the mid-'90s after she found herself $4 million in debt following
her divorce from Prince Andrew. Queen Elizabeth II was reportedly over the duchess' splurging by
then and refused to help pay it off, so Ferguson moved to New York City to make money on her own.
She managed to do that by partnering with Weight Watchers and writing a children's book series.
"Of course the book is about this very strong, courageous, resilient redhead. Hmm."
However, it was when Ferguson launched her lifestyle brand, Hartmoor, that things took
another turn for the worse after that business went under. She explained to Hello! in 2009:
"I put all my money into Hartmoor […] everything I
earned from the 'Young Victoria' film and my 'Little Red' books and I lost it all."
That investment left Ferguson in financial ruin, but she wasn't ready to resort to bankruptcy.
According to The Telegraph, Prince Andrew didn't like that option either and, to avoid being
embarrassed, he allegedly turned to his friend, Jeffrey Epstein, for help, who then gave them
over $20,000. Of course, that backfired because Epstein was a convicted sex offender. In 2011,
Ferguson publicly apologized for their dealings, calling it "a gigantic error of judgment."
If the toe-sucking incident wasn't mortifying enough, Sarah Ferguson was involved in another
media scandal in 2010 that further tarnished her reputation. That was her notorious pay-for-access
scandal, where she was caught on hidden camera offering access to her ex-husband,
Prince Andrew, in exchange for money to someone she thought was a businessman. It
actually was an undercover reporter for News of the World, who recorded her saying to him:
"Five hundred thousand pounds. [...] If you want to meet him in your business,
look after me and he'll look after you."
Not a good look. Not only did it make her seem desperate for money, it also presumably further
damaged her relationship with the royal family, who were reportedly already not happy with her by
that point. However, the duchess did own up to her mistakes and publicly apologized to them, stating:
"It is true that my financial situation is under stress,
however that is no excuse for a serious lapse in judgment."
Sarah Ferguson is clearly no stranger to scandal — yet in 2012,
she found herself in more serious trouble. The Duchess of York was facing a maximum
of 22 years in prison in Turkey because of her 2008 documentary "Duchess and Daughters:
Their Secret Mission." According to the Mirror, Ferguson was charged with violating the privacy
of orphans and illegally obtaining footage of them when she secretly filmed at an orphanage.
Ferguson had been in the U.K. when the charges were filed. While she wouldn't
have been extradited to Turkey from there, Ferguson reportedly
canceled all her travel plans at the time, grounding herself in Britain.
While Turkish officials apparently felt that Ferguson was trying to smear their
country's reputation by showcasing the horrible conditions in orphanages,
she stood by the documentary. She stated, per CNN:
"I stand strong in the face of the rights of children and I remain steadfast."
However, Reuters reported that Ferguson did apologize for her work embarrassing the
country. Turkish prosecutors eventually gave Ferguson the chance to settle out of court,
but it appears that the whole incident left her shaken.
"The queen has died, very sadly. She died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon."
News of Queen Elizabeth II's death in September 2022 shook the world, and it
seems like it hit Sarah Ferguson particularly hard because of their close relationship.
As mentioned, Ferguson had a troubled relationship with her mother and lost her
tragically in a car crash, which probably made the queen's death all the harder.
Ferguson was also apparently thankful for Elizabeth's support through her media scandals,
believing that they even grew closer after her divorce from her son,
Prince Andrew. She previously explained to Harper's Bazaar,
"When I met with Her Majesty about it, she asked, 'What do you require, Sarah?' and I said, 'Your
friendship,' which I think amazed her because everyone said I would demand a big settlement."
Therefore, Ferguson was understandably devastated to lose not only her queen,
but her friend. In a series of tweets, she shared,
"I am heartbroken by the passing of Her Majesty the Queen."
Another post read:
"I will always be grateful to her for the generosity she showed me in remaining close
to me even after my divorce. I will miss her more than words can express."
All in all, Ferguson's seemingly grateful for how far she's come following these
many tragedies, and for the people who have helped her along the way.