Moment Sarah Ferguson walked out of TV interview over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor scandal
The interview took place in 2011Sarah Ferguson once walked out of a TV interview as she was asked about a scandal involving her ex-husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The now former Duchess of York, 66, sat down with Michael Usher for an interview on 60 Minutes Australia in 2011.
Usher said they agreed that nothing was “off limits” in the interview. But when he asked Sarah about a scandal surrounding her and Andrew, she shut it down.
Sarah Ferguson walks out of TV interview over Andrew media sting
At one point in the interview, Usher asked Sarah about a tabloid sting scandal she found herself in back in 2010.
At the time, the then-duchess was filmed offering access to her ex-husband, Andrew, for £500,000 to an undercover reporter for the now-defunct News of the World posing as a businessman.
She is heard saying in the footage: “£500,000 when you can, to me, open doors.”
The undercover reporter asks: “It would be Prince Andrew?” to which Sarah replies: “Yeah.”
They then shake on the “deal”.
‘I am not going to play this game’
Initially, Sarah opened up to Usher about the media sting.
However, that quickly changed. As he and Sarah sat inside, opposite each other, Usher asked: “Did you take the money? At one stage you had $40,000 cash sitting in front of you, did you take that?”
Sarah replied: “Absolutely yes, it was given to me and I got it in the car and then returned it straight away.”
Usher then said: “Once the scandal broke?”
Sarah responded: “As soon as I knew it was a scandal not once it broke Michael. Don’t try and trick me now because I am not going to play this game. Delete that bit. I don’t want to go down this route.”
Sarah then turned to her Australian agent, John Scott, who was off-screen. She said she didn’t want to continue with the line of questioning.
As Usher continued to ask questions, Sarah told him: “That’s done. I’ve answered it. Thank you very much, moving onto the next question.”
Usher asked Sarah if the scandal had helped her “review her life”. Sarah admitted: “I was very grateful for being in that position in a way, when I hit rock bottom, because it woke me up.”
However, she then looked off camera again. She said: “Remember, remember, Cindy, yeah.. I am going to take five minutes.”
The former duchess then stood up and walked out of view of the camera.
‘She did walk out when she was ambushed’
At the time, Sarah’s agent, John Scott, addressed her walking out of the interview.
He told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph: “We had gone through all the questions and subject matter beforehand and filmed all the walking in the park footage before we sat down.
“She did walk out when she was ambushed – no, it was entrapment – but after cooling down she said to me, ‘[Bleep] them, let’s do this,’ and she did, but it was a banal interview and her demeanour reflected that.”
What do you think of this story? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page.
