Sarah Ferguson was desperately trying to break into Hollywood before ex Prince Andrew’s Epstein arrest
Former Duchess Sarah Ferguson was trying to pitch her 2021 romance novel as a TV or film project in Hollywood before the DOJ’s Epstein Files data dump — and before her ex, former Prince Andrew, was arrested in the UK — sources tell P6H.
“She was asking for some of us to push for [her novel] ‘Heart For A Compass’ to be presented to networks and streamers as their ‘next serious hit,’ as a cross between ‘Bridgerton’ and ‘The Crown,'” said a skeptical pal. “She’d had it rewritten and repitched, and was asking for any connects to take on the project. Everyone was very cautious.”
The project was previously pitched to networks in 2023, but Fergie was trying a “last Hail Mary in Hollywood,” said a source after execs at NBC, HBO and Netflix passed.
The 500-plus page book follows the amply named Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott, who flees an arranged marriage. Wrote The Guardian in a review of the romance book when it came out: “While Margaret indulges in a handful of kisses, and at one point has a man ‘adjusting his kilt, swearing under his breath,’ the pleasures she experiences are all very much above the waistline.”
A source tells us that Fergie was also telling pals her hands were clean concerning Jeffrey Epstein — while throwing her ex-hubby under the bus as the true pal of the late, disgraced financier.
(As a result of the unsealed files, Andrew was arrested on his 66th birthday in the UK for allegedly forwarding confidential trade documents to his pedophile pal.)
A source tells Page Six Hollywood that Fergie had tried to assure acquaintances in NYC and LA that she was misled by the Epstein, and that she allegedly begged friends “speak up for her” to secure meetings with studios and production companies to develop a TV version of the book.
“Somehow Fergie wanted people who have worked with her, or social friends, to go into bat for her,” said a source. “She wanted some of us to actually vouch for her with businesses, media companies and some non-profits to not only assure them she was being misrepresented by the Epstein Files, but [that she] herself was some kind of ‘casualty of wrong doing.'”
But the files seemingly revealed a closer association.
Fergie wrote to Epstein, the released DOJ files reveal, in 2009 saying: “You are a legend. I really don’t have the words to describe, my love, gratitude for your generosity and kindness… Xx I am at your service . Just marry me.” The same year, she allegedly wrote Epstein: “I urgently need 20,000 pounds ($27,521) for rent today.”
A rep for the former duchess did not get back to us.
