Oprah Winfrey opened her pocketbook to prevent the release of a documentary that was being made about her.
The 70-year-old mogul – reportedly worth $3 billion – shelled out an untold fortune to stop the release of a new documentary on Apple TV Plus, according to Page Six.
The project was first announced back in January 2021, with Kevin Macdonald (Whitney) directing and longtime The Oprah Winfrey Show producer Lisa Erspamer producing.
Nothing has been revealed about the documentary since then, with this report claiming Winfrey – who recently revealed her new bombshell interview – and Macdonald ‘clashed’ over the film.
‘Kevin made the film, but Oprah didn’t like it and he refused to change it, and Oprah has paid back her fee to Apple,’ a source said.
Oprah Winfrey opened her pocketbook to prevent the release of a documentary that was being made about her
The 70-year-old mogul – reportedly worth $3 billion – shelled out an untold fortune to stop the release of a new documentary on Apple TV Plus, according to Page SixÂ
‘Kevin made the film, but Oprah didn’t like it and he refused to change it, and Oprah has paid back her fee to Apple,’ a source said
A spokesperson for Winfrey confirmed that she bought the rights back and has decided to shelve the project.
‘As the Apple TV+ deal was coming to an end, Ms. Winfrey bought back the rights to her docu-series and has since decided to put the doc on hold,’ the source said.
Winfrey’s content deal with Apple TV Plus ended in September 2022, and she decided to buy back the rights then. Â
‘Ms. Winfrey believes Lisa Erspamer and Kevin MacDonald are incredibly talented filmmakers and is grateful for the time and energy they put into the project,’ the rep said.
Another source tied to Winfrey insisted that Macdonald did not refuse to make edits as others claimed, but Winfrey just had a change of heart.t
The second source said Winfrey believed, ‘it wasn’t the right time to do a documentary,’ before she bought the rights back, a move not often seen.
Industry sources claimed that Winfrey would have had to shell out millions to get the rights back, though others denied she paid more than seven figures for the rights.
Erspamer produced The Oprah Winfrey Show from 1999 to 2009 and teamed up with Macdonald on the 2018 documentary Whitney, about Whitney Houston’s life.
A spokesperson for Winfrey confirmed that she bought the rights back and has decided to shelve the project
‘As the Apple TV+ deal was coming to an end, Ms. Winfrey bought back the rights to her docu-series and has since decided to put the doc on hold,’ the source said
The second source said Winfrey believed, ‘ it wasn’t the right time to do a documentary,’ before she bought the rights back, a move not often seen
The project was initially announced as a two-part documentary with Macdonald directing and Rolake Bamgbose serving as showrunner.
The documentary was set to be a two-part release that would chronicle 25 years of American history through Oprah’s rise to fame.
Apple TV Plus and Oprah’s Harpo production company signed a multi-year deal back in 2018 but that came to a close in 2022.
Macdonald has not yet publicly commented on the documentary or it being shelved at this point.Â
