Sarah Ferguson has opened her heart in a tell-all interview to Oprah Winfrey in which she blames drinking for trying to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew for £500,000.
The Duchess of York told chat show queen Oprah that she was “not in the right place” when she was caught on camera in the newspaper sting.
Fergie, 50, also claimed she has yet to watch the News of the World video that landed her in trouble.
She tells Oprah: “I haven’t faced the devil in the face because I was in the gutter at that moment.”
The full interview is set to air later today on The Oprah Winfrey Show. It was taped in Los Angeles on Friday.
A preview, seen by People magazine, features the Duchess saying: “So I’m aware of the fact that I’ve been drinking, you know, that I was not in my right place.”
She is said to be up to £1 million in debt.
A spokesman for Prince Andrew has denied he knew about the scheme.
Fergie had said in an earlier statement: “I very deeply regret the situation and the embarrassment caused. It is true that my financial situation is under stress, however, that is no excuse for a serious lapse in judgment and I am very sorry that this has happened.”
Kirstie Alley has jokingly said she is Oprah Winfrey’s court “jester” after making several appearances on the talkshow queen’s sofa.
The 59-year-old actress, who is battling the bulge in her latest reality TV series, told the Los Angeles Times how she became friends with Winfrey.
“I sent in a tape of me, going: ‘Oprah, look at me, I’m really fat. I think if I had a better-looking kitchen, I would be thin. Can you help me?’ And she did.”
The video was sent to Winfrey back in 2004 before Alley successfully lost 75lbs with Jenny Craig.
In 2006, after the weight melted away, Alley strutted her bikini-clad body in front of the talkshow host’s audience.
But she has returned – since ballooning from 10 stone 5lbs to 16 stone 6lbs.
“You know you have those friends who invite you over because you’re sort of the court jester?” Alley says. “I feel like I’m Oprah’s jester.”
Alley’s latest project is being the star in her own reality TV show – Kirstie Alley’s Big Life, which chronicles her latest weight-loss attempts.
Oscar nominee Penelope Cruz’s thick Spanish accent landed her in trouble in a TV chat with fellow actress Halle Berry as she kept referring to Halle’s movie as Monster’s Balls.
The Nine star admitted she struggles to pronounce the name of the film – Monster’s Ball – which won Halle a Best Actress Oscar. And she proved it by balls-ing up again on camera.
The movie beauties ended up in fits of giggles as they interviewed each other on Oprah Winfrey’s Oscars Special.
Penelope confessed: “I have a problem with the title of the movie. A lot of people laugh at me because when I say it, it sounds like the balls of the monster.
“I have tried to correct myself.”
Penelope burst out laughing and failed to finish her question as she started: “But in Monster’s Balls….”
The pair also giggled as Penelope asked Halle about the famous sofa sex scene in the film.
Halle told how she will watch Sunday’s ceremony “in my JJs at home with a glass of wine.”
Hollywood actress Glenn Close has revealed that she knocked back a jug full of margaritas before filming the raunchy lift scene in Fatal Attraction.
The Damages star, 62, told how she ordered a jug full of booze before getting hot and steamy with co-star Michael Douglas.
She said: “There’s some scenes – like the elevator scene – where I asked for a pitcher of margaritas and I drank about half of it,” she said during a discussion about the movie with Douglas.
“You did pretty good,” he laughed.
“And you were happy,” she smiled back.
The pair were discussing their roles in the 1987 hit thriller for an Oprah Winfrey Oscar special, which is due to air on US TV this week.
Sitting closely together, the stars appeared relaxed as they laughed and joked about their on- and off-screen antics.
Reminiscing about the notorious lift scene, Douglas, 55, said: “I was a happy guy. I was a very happy guy.
“The elevator scene. That’ll be a good memory. That’s going to be one whole chapter in the book.”
Close added: “I felt I was in such a safe environment and you were a fantastic partner with that. I think we really believed it was extraordinary storytelling.”
Rumours Ellen DeGeneres would replace Oprah have been put to rest, with the wildly popular talk show host comedian inking another deal to stay on.
Degeneres, who has just debuted as a judge on American Idol, signed on for three more seasons of NBC’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show with Warner Bros Domestic Television division to 2014.
DeGeneres made no mention of the deal on air, but quipped on Wenesday that it was the “one-day anniversary” of her Idol tenure. Observers watched closely to test the “chemistry” between her and the departing Simon Cowell.
Ken Werner of Warner Bros said: “Ellen is one of those unique personalities that comes along once in a generation. Her program has been embraced by viewers as their generation’s talk franchise, and we couldn’t be happier that the NBC stations will continue to have Ellen as the cornerstone of their syndicated line-up for years to come.”
DeGeneres said: “I’m so excited to sign on for three more years at NBC. They were the ones that believed in my show from day one. So I’m thrilled to know I’ll be here ’til at least 2014. Things will be a lot different by then. I won’t be dancing over my coffee table any more. Through the magic of 3-D, I’ll be dancing over yours.”
Oprah Winfrey’s medical guru recently came under fire for promoting alternative treatments.
Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, was accused of quackery by his outspoken peers. According to MSNBC, Oz encouraged viewers of the popular daytime show to “cure what ails them” by trying out “energy medicine”.
Stephen Barrett, a vice-president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, told a US tabloid, “One part of Dr Oz is highly rational and scientific, but I think he’s also loaded with near-delusional ideas and gives some very bad advice. The bottom line for me is that he does more harm than good for American health.”
MSNBC reports that Oz’s promotion of Reiki, which his wife teaches, has particularly come under fire. Mary Ann Malloy, a cardiologist, told the National Enquirer: “Dr Oz promotes unproven approaches such as Reiki and Therapeutic Touch, and to support them he cherry-picks studies that are positive and ignores the negative ones.”
Not all physicians, however, were opposed. Ernie Bodai said: “I like what Dr Oz is doing and I agree with it. If a patient wants these kinds of complementary treatments, I think a doctor is right to utilise them – as long as they are used as an addition to standard medical treatments rather than a replacement.”
Oprah Winfrey’s best friend admits even she doesn’t know what is next for the retiring talk-show queen.
Oprah announced last week that she was quitting her world-famous talk show after 25 years at the top.
“After 25 years, it’s just time to go while you’re on top,” Gayle King said.
“It really was as simple as that and, maybe, to have a semblance of a life.
“Hey listen, no pity party for Oprah, because she has a great life, does wonderful things, but you know, at the end of the day, it really is her life.”
Winfrey will end her talk show in 2011 after one final season of interviews.
“I don’t even think she knows,” King said of Oprah’s future plans.
“She’s riding off from ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ as we know it, but she’s not riding off into the sunset.”
Marion Cotillard has confessed she couldn’t dance when she took on a role in highly anticipated musical Nine.
The La Vie en Rose star appeared as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show to promote the movie when she revealed her skills had to be honed by professionals.
“I thought I could dance, and I actually couldn’t,” she admitted. “Fortunately, we had this amazing team of dancers that worked with us. I would dance from the time I would wake up until the time I would go back to bed.”
In her breakthrough movie, Cotillard sang her way to winning a best actress Oscar taking on the role of Edith Piaf. Cotillard, 34, told Winfrey she loved singing in Nine because you can’t fool anyone when you do.
She said: “I love singing. Because of the emotion that is in your voice, it’s hard to lie with your voice.”
Cotillard told the host that as a child growing up in France, she dreamed of acting in an American musical.
“I would watch Singin’ in the Rain again and again and again,” she said. “I was pretty good at doing the choreographies of the whole movie.”
Oprah Winfrey is quitting her talk. On Thursday afternoon, Tim Bennett, president of Winfrey’s production house, Harpo, confirmed the media mogul will make her final appearance on the Oprah set in September 2011 – completing 25 years of the show.
She is set to confirm the news herself on Friday’s edition of the show.
Describing the show as “one of the most popular, influential and enduring programs in television history”, Bennett said the announcement will “mark an historic television moment that we will all be talking about for years to come”.
Memorable moments over the years have included Tom Cruise’s couch jumping incident and the first TV interview with Thomas Beatie – the pregnant man. More recent coups have included interviews with Whitney Houston and Sarah Palin.
After conquering the TV world, Winfrey built her empire, which includes films, books, magazines and websites. She is the world’s only black billionaire, according to Forbes magazine.
Last week rumours surfaced that she is planning to launch a new channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network, with Discovery Communications.
Oprah Winfrey has admitted she may be ending the most famous daytime TV show in history.
The talkshow queen’s contract is due to expire in 2011, her 25th year on the air, and Oprah stunned fans by saying she will decide soon if she will continue it.
Until the announcement, it had never crossed anyone’s minds Oprah may end her show.
Industry insiders believe the daily grind may now be too much for her – and also believe she may be interested in taking total control of the cable channel she is launching, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).
Winfrey spokesman Don Halcombe denied a definitive plan exists: “She has not made a decision yet.”
Leslie Moonves, the Chief Executive of CBS, which runs Oprah’s current show, insists the channel is desperate to keep her.
“She’s a legend,” he said. “We will probably know in a couple of months. We’re in dialogue.”
It’s not the first time Oprah, now 53 and one of the richest people in the country, has gone through a public will-she-or-won’t-she drama over retirement.
In 1997 and again in 2002, Oprah said she was thinking seriously about leaving her show – but both times renewed her contract for several more years.
