how she manages her maintain a sense of true reality. In 2002, Sarah, Duchess of York, was the subject of a profile in Hello magazine. The interview was coordinated by Marquesa de Varela Intl Ltd. Sarah was photographed wearing designer label gowns in her new New York apartment, "overlooking Manhattan." The photo shoot took place before Christmas 2002, shortly after the introduction of Hartmoor, which has since gone belly up.
She was asked why she bought an apartment in New York.
"When I left the royal family I said to Her Majesty that it wasn't right to be commercial in the UK. I didn't want to receive a divorce settlement, so I went to work in America."
[At this time, Sarah seemed delighted by her new apartment in New York City - and it probably cost several million dollars. Please note Sarah refers to not wanting to receive a divorce settlement. Hmm ... interesting statement.]
She told the interviewer: "America allows you to be human. You're accepted; you can ask people's forgiveness, you can get it wrong and have a second chance. You are allowed to talk about insecurities and innermost feelings. You're just allowed to be yourself."
She said she commuted weekly between the US and the UK. "It's hard, but when I left the royal family, I gave my word to Her Majesty that I would not work commercially in Britain. She didn't ask for that commitment, but I did wanted to do this out of respect I have for her - that I have with all my heart."
The interviewer also asked: You're said to be a self-made millionaire now. Do you prize your hard-won financial security, for enabling you to look after your girls?"
"A millionairess? I'm not - don't believe what you read on that score. But I'm working hard at it. And I'm very excited that I have to work. I really do have to work hard to balance the budget. And that's why my team works very hard for me too .. it's not as if I'm sitting back having a manicure and pedicure every day."
[Sarah needs financial security for herself, not to look after her girls. The princesses have their own incomes, and will be set for life, thanks to investments. They are also now adults, and do not need for their mother to look after them. Sarah received £600,000 of the £2 million divorce settlement. The rest was put into trust to purchase a home for the princesses. This never happened. After the divorce, Sarah had to move out of her rented home, Kingsbourne, because she could not afford the rent. She moved back into Sunninghill. The trustees purchased Birch Hall in Surrey but Sarah said she could not afford the upkeep. The house was resold. Another home, Forest Lodge, near Windsor, was offered in 1998, but Sarah decided against it due to the cost of the upkeep, which would have been her responsibility.]
Fast forward to November 2009 and another interview with Hello (which noted that Sarah was not paid for the interview.) She wanted to counter comments in the press about her finances regarding the collapse of Hartmoor.
"I put all my money into Hartmoor, my American lifestyle company, everything I earned from the Young Victoria film [as producer] and my Little Red books and I lost it all.
"I am out of the woods now and I won't let down the people who invested in me."
[Seems like Sarah is deep in something, and it is not the woods, and she has let down a lot of people, and she may see fewer investments in her product -- which happens to be herself.]
"I understand that people may have their own opinions of me and that's fine. I am all for the freedom of the press, but, of course, I do take it personally...But I am not and never will be a victim. I want to make that perfectly clear. I know I am the luckiest woman in the world."
[I an delighted she likes the freedom of the press. Never a victim ... she's been playing the victim for several decades now.]
She said she walked away from Weight Watchers in 2007. "I had ten wonderful years with them and I left with real sadness." Hartmoor was going to produce a line of frozen foods and "other lifestyle products." Sarah said she knew she could not compete with WeightWatchers, and she was advised that her new contract "excluded me from working for any other food firm."
"It's been a very difficult and challenging time. I wasn't on the management team. I was an employee and an investor, and yes, I am of course very disappointed and upset at what happened. I had a little one bedroom apartment on East 72nd Street and I was very happy there. But as you've seen in other reports, Hartmoor spent money on offices and moving me into an apartment I didn't need. I could write a really interesting book about finance for women, and the first bit of advice I would give is never sign away your intellectual property. You won't have any control over your own life. That's what happened to me."
[She seemed happy enough in that apartment in 2002. Wasn't complaining about how it was bought.]
She also added that while working for Hartmoor, she could not work for anyone else. Sarah added that St. Martin's Press was publishing her first novel in 2010. [Bet this doesn't happen.]
"I haven't got a house and I haven't got an office, but I do have one asset, my property in Italy, so I must do something with that. I promised to turn it into a spa - and I will do it, but as you can imagine I have been a little distracted of late!"
[If I were Sarah, I might consider selling the Italian property, and give up the pie-in-the-sky dreams.]
She also said she had to buy back her mother's ranch in Argentina, which her mother had lost due to Hector Barrantes' debts. "I will do anything to keep it - my mother and Hector are buried there. One day I want it to become a place where children from inner cities can go."
[Get rid of the property. Concentrate on needs, not wants.]
Famous last words: "I'm just me and I'll never change. I always come out fighting."
[Yes, it's true, Sarah will never change.]
In an interview with Harper's in March 2007, Sarah said: "I wanted to work. It's not right for a princess of the royal house to be commercial, so Andrew and I decided to make the divorce official so I could go off and get a job....I left my marriage knowing I'd have to work."
[Sarah left her marriage because she wanted to work! Now that's a new twist.]
In 2003, Sarah was interviewed by Ladies' Home Journal.
She was asked how "someone in your situation meet the right person. Her response was "Trust in destiny. Trust in God. Trust in faith. He will have to be very strong to not mind that I might get all the attention."
[Is this an honest statement, or someone who is deluding herself.]
She added: "Andrew and I believe we're the happiest divorced couple in the world... I'm fiercely loyal to him."
[So loyal that she was willing to accept money to exploit him.]
Sarah was interviewed by Parade magazine in 2001, where she talked about the collapse of her marriage. "I sabotaged myself -- brilliantly, because everything I do everything whole hog -- and the press was there to record it all."
It seems she has once again "sabotaged myself," and, yup, the press "was there to record it all."
East 72nd street! Goodness, my office is on East 73rd and I had no idea she had a "tiny" (yeah right) flat nearby!
ReplyDeleteI suppose that her limo might have driven right past me as I walked to and from the office, I often walked down East 72nd.
Sorry to sound so crass, but my NY accent is going to come out now: "This chick has a screw loose"
I enjoyed your comments. Thanks for adding them.
ReplyDeleteFergie is absolutely incorrigible. Watching her reception during her book selling appearance this week, it is amazing to see that she still receives a special deference from much of the public. Her royal gilt may never rub off entirely, even if she commits what amounts to a criminal offense. As she says, "I am a pure aristocrat!" That belief apparently cushions her from personal insight. Most of us would crawl into a hole and die with shame after being caught doing what she did. She provides a spectacle that rivals the antics of Caroline of Brunswick, the wildly inappropriate wife of George IV. History repeats itself, right in front of our eyes. All we can do is keep watching, and cringing.
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