Omid Scobie claims Harry and Meghan regret signing a $20 million deal with Spotify after clashing with Spotify executives.
royal author told Yo The couple were eager to sign a media deal after moving to California as they faced pressure to become financially independent after being cut off from the royal family.
Spotify’s contract produced only a series of Meghan’s podcast prototypes before it was terminated, with an executive at the streaming platform calling the couple “liars.”
“When they moved to Los Angeles, the biggest offer was to tell the story (Megxit) that everyone wanted to hear. They took full advantage of that and signed these deals,” Scobie said.
Scobie claims in his controversial new book that a “rush” to earn enough money to fund their new life led the Sussexes “to sign lucrative deals that they would have had they not been under so much financial pressure” , they might think twice before taking action”, End Game.
Scobie said the couple “didn’t expect that executives would reject so many ideas.” He cited close friends of the couple as sources for his controversial book.
The author cited company sources as saying that Spotify is “only interested in paying for interesting merchandise that will make headlines and attract subscriptions.”
Archetypes, a 12-episode podcast in which the Duchess of Sussex interviews high-profile friends including Serena Williams and discusses the role of women in society, is the only series to air under the deal .
Scobie said the deal was terminated by mutual consent and the Sussexes received only “a portion of the $20 million”.
However, the couple is moving forward with their $100 million multi-year Netflix deal. The Harry and Meghan series chronicling their departure from the royal family became the streamer’s most-watched documentary.
But Scobie said the Sussexes would no longer use their royal rivalry as a selling point. They are adapting the romance novel Meet Me by the Lake for Netflix, and Harry is keen to make more shows about his Invincible Game initiative.
“Now that the Netflix series and Spare (Harry’s memoir) have been published, the couple are keen to move into the future,” Scobie said.
He added: “The couple moved to Los Angeles and planned to become global philanthropists on a par with the Clooney Foundation and the Obamas. For too long they were synonymous with royal soap operas and little else. ”
Scobie said he did not believe Meghan had ambitions to run for president of the United States. He said she would use her influence as a “convener” to bring people together and lobby for the humanitarian causes she supports.
The royal biographer, dubbed “Meghan’s mouthpiece” by critics, admitted the couple was hurt by his account of a “nearly catastrophic” two-hour car chase involving paparazzi in New York.
Recollections of the severity of the incident vary, with the taxi driver who picked up the couple saying he felt no danger.
“People close to the couple acknowledge that there was a real crisis during that time,” Scobie said. “The chase was a horrific thing to happen, but the response was not what they expected.”
Scobie said Harry did not want to reopen wounds with his family, meaning the duke would not add new chapters to the paperback version of his best-selling book The Spare.
This reporter contacted Spotify for comment.