Cash-strapped Sarah Ferguson is considering a tell-all documentary deal worth a reported £1.3million.
The disgraced former Duchess of York has been hiding away in a luxury £2,000-a-night Austrian chalet while fielding offers from TV and movie companies in Britain and America.
Fergie’s close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was laid bare in embarrassing emails that saw her call the paedophile her ‘supreme friend’ and ‘the brother I have always wished for’.
In 2010 she affectionately wrote to him: ‘I am at your service. Just marry me.’
In another note she told the convicted sex offender that she was waiting for her then-19 year-old daughter Princess Eugenie ‘to come back from a shagging weekend’.
Other emails – which were all released in the Epstein Files – show her asking him for money.
The 66-year-old has insisted she was not aware of Epstein’s criminal behaviour and considers herself a ‘victim’ of the scandal. She has also defended her husband, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
Ms Ferguson is said to be ‘acutely aware’ of the impact any TV appearance would have on Eugenie and Beatrice, who remain members of the Royal Family. However, she is said to be open to the ‘right offer’.
Several broadcasters have expressed an interest in working with Fergie, with one American bid said to be worth $1.75m (£1.3m), according to The Mirror.
Her representatives have said she does not feel able to film in the States, given the public anger around the Epstein case.
Even so, a source previously told the Mail On Sunday that she may receive a more sympathetic audience across the pond.
‘Everyone knows Sarah has a compelling story to tell,’ they said. ‘America has always been more forgiving of her than Britain has.
‘When she and Andrew divorced, she spent all her time in the US giving interviews to Oprah Winfrey and others and making money from commercial deals like the one with Weight Watchers.
‘She’s an idiot but she’s a useful idiot. The appetite for anything Epstein-related isn’t abating.
‘She’s not been charged with anything and even though her emails to Epstein are excruciatingly embarrassing they don’t show any complicity in his crimes.
‘Several studios and streamers have already made substantial offers for her to sit down and tell what she knows.’
The former royal was finally spotted last week outside an eye-wateringly expensive wellness clinic in Austria, where she has been holed up.
It was the first public sighting of the disgraced former royal in four months since she attended the christening of her youngest granddaughter, just before new revelations emerged further linking her to the paedophile financier.
A relative who has been in contact with the disappearing ex-duchess during her self-imposed secret exile from British public life yesterday told the Mail what is behind her furtive behaviour – and why she wants to avoid being seen.
Martin Barrantes, a cousin by marriage, told us: ‘I have spoken to her [and] can tell you that she just wants to protect her children and her grandchildren.
‘We spoke around three months ago. I wanted to give her my support in a difficult moment for her with all that was going on with the Epstein Files.
‘Sarah is going through a difficult moment, and I wanted to send her our support, she is a valued member of our family.
‘Given the situation she seemed to be in good spirits.’
Fergie is said to remain ‘deeply troubled’ by her fall from grace and enforced removal from Royal Lodge.
She also faces continuing pressure from US lawmakers to come forward and testify about her and Andrew’s relationship with Epstein.
Friends say her self-imposed solitude in Austria has been helpful in ‘recalibrating’ her outlook on life.
One told Mail: ‘She is going through a process, taking time out to recalibrate.
‘Everything has gone: title, home, purpose, the lot. So, for these last weeks she has been trying to get her strength back and work out what she is going to do.
‘She’s not at the stage yet where she knows what the next steps will look like. It seems sensible not to break cover until she has some idea what shape her life is going to take.’
Fergie previously stayed at the Mayrlife resort on Lake Altaussee – which charges up to £6,700 for a two-week recuperative stay – two years ago, to recover after being diagnosed with a malignant melanoma.
