I totally forgot about this, but in April, several British media outlets ran stories about how Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s Finding Freedom was getting some new chapters or an update which would, they claimed, “reopen royal rifts.” Scobie tweeted out a careful yet vague denial and most people forgot about it because, you know, everything else. Since those reports, Robert Lacey added new Prince William-approved chapters to Battle of Brothers, so we had our fill of book “updates.” Now it’s official though: Finding Freedom is coming out in paperback and it will include a new epilogue:
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s “heartbreak” over Prince Philip’s death will be detailed in the new epilogue of “Finding Freedom,” the book’s publisher announced Monday. The paperback edition of authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s royal biography will be available on August 31 — the 24th anniversary of the death of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.
“In the new epilogue, Scobie and Durand share behind the scenes of Harry and Meghan’s groundbreaking interview with Oprah [Winfrey], details behind the couple’s move to California, the various philanthropic and business endeavors the Sussexes have been involved with since their move and what’s to come with Archewell Productions,” HarperCollins said in a press release.
The updated book will also explore Markle’s “emotional healing journey from losing a child” to the birth of her and Harry’s daughter, Lilibet Diana, to the “continuous challenges the couple faces regarding privacy and the British press.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex — who quit the royal family in January 2020 — found out the news that the Duke of Edinburgh had died at age 99 in April at their California home. It was reported that Harry had to be woken in the dead of the night with the news.
That sounds like a lengthy epilogue which will cover a lot of big stuff that’s happened in the past year! Again, this is not Scobie and Durand dropping Sussex receipts. This is likely just a “well-sourced” summary of the Sussexes’ activities and thoughts. I expect some minor tea will be spilled but it won’t be all that much. The British media will try to make it sound like it’s the biggest f–king deal ever though, all while strategically ignoring William’s co-opting of Robert Lacey.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
i love that infinitely more people around the world will read this book than will ever hear of lacey’s shitty book.
also, the non-UK media who are so eager about harry and meghan can – for a few weeks, at least – cover factual, well-sourced h+m news for a change, and we won’t have to keep hearing about the daily mail’s ‘sources’ every. damn. day.
I expect no tea to be spilled. The epilogue will be just a recounting of what happened since Harry and Meghan left with sourcing coming from media reports, official statements from their office and their own comments made on zoom calls, virtual conferences, interviews, speeches and essays from the last year. I’ve seen royalists and Kate stans being offended and feigning outrage on Meghan’s behalf because the epilogue is going to include her miscarrage. They are saying only she should be able to talk about it. These people forget that the only reason we know about the miscarrage is because Meghan spoke out it herself in the NYT.
I imagine it’ll be similar to the book itself – things taken from articles online, perhaps speaking to a few sources and the rest filled in using their own imaginations.
I haven’t read this book but if I happen to see it for sale in a used bookstore, sure! It’s probably a rehash of things we already know–the furor over Lilibet’s name, the awkwardness of Prince Philip’s funeral, Kate trying to make herself seem like a keen reconciliator, all the accusations against Meghan pre-Oprah interview… But it’s good to have a place where the BRF’s shenanigans are recorded for posterity for all to read.
There is so much printed on the Sussexes and they made so many zoom calls for their causes, did a few podcasts, wrote a few articles since they left, and of course he Oprah interview. To to forget the palaces leak like sieves whenever they’re in their feelings, as well as the court transcripts from Meghan’s lawsuit against the Daily Mail. It’s not that hard for the Finding Freedom writers to find the info to add to the new chapters. Of course, I’m sure they’ll add their ow. Spin with their purple prose. So much is put there so about out of course the British press will be all outraged and think the invisible hand of Harry and Meghan decides all things.
I wonder if Omid will attempt to retcon his version of the crying story, which we now know was just plain wrong. He gets a lot of undue criticism from the british press and insane royalists, and I feel for him, but I do think that so-called journalists should be questioned when they are so blatantly wrong about a story. It’s wild to me that with all the coverage of the who-made-who-cry saga, not once have the FF authors been asked to answer for their obvious wrong take and explain why we should still treat them as having any insider info or credibility when it comes to the 5% of their book that isn’t pulled directly from Sussex official statements or the Archewell website.
I also wonder if Durand will slither out from beneath her rock to participate in this epilogue promo or if she’ll leave Omid to the wolves while she counts her $$ in peace as usual.
You make an excellent point which I had not considered. For someone that the Sussexes are alleged by the RR to be working closely with, Scobie sure got that wrong. Thank you for pointing this out.
@Sunday: The new book is just going to have the epilogue where the Oprah interview will be discussed. My guess is he leaves the book as is and just talks about Meghan clearing up the story during the interview in the epilogue. I think he will comment on how damaging that story was for Meghan as a black woman.
I think you’re exactly right, which is my entire point – despite being more fair than the other RRs, he also damaged Meghan by selling and promoting this false narrative. He arguably benefits way more than any other RR for his supposed “connection” and inside track to the Sussexes, and yet he’s contributed to this story that abused Meghan for months, to the point where FF was dragged into her court case. Just because he points out the obvious racist treatment she’s been subjected to doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t be culpable for his own part in actively contributing to the hateful lies used to smear her.
this is basically exactly what I think. I feel for Omid and respect him for taking it on all sides in his true neutral stance, but he created a work of gossip fiction and sold it as a true inside story. The Sussexes had to go to court and disprove all the made up stuff in order to defend themselves in the copyright case. It was a mess.
Honestly, I think with the crying story it may be that he was never given the correct version because Meghan was told she could not correct it. Remember Omid did have that email after the Oprah interview from Meghan asking if they could correct the crying story. So if he wasn’t given anything from the Sussexes about it except “no comment” and the only thing that came from KP was “well you read what Camilla said” then Omid probably did just draw his own conclusions.
I like Omid bc I think he gives Meghan a fair shake most of the time, but he’s going to have flawed sources sometimes and in general I found Finding Freedom to be kind of meh, but at least it didn’t drag Meghan the way some other books have tried.
Sure, that could all be true, but to me that just reinforces that his sources and narratives are just as flawed as every other 2nd or 3rd hand account because he’s not getting any info directly from Meghan or Harry. I don’t expect journalists to be right 100% of the time, but the excuses and glossing over the error(s) to maintain the profitable illusion of being the Sussex’s mouthpiece just rubs me the wrong way. I know he can’t exactly step up to a podium and announce “My sources are indirect at best! Sometimes I’m basically guessing!” but he’s certainly leaned in to the Sussex spokesperson misconception, at great profit to him and great harm to Meghan, which is my main gripe.
(And I fully acknowledge that I’m holding him to a way higher standard than the rest of the RRs because he is mostly fair and does provide coverage of all the Archewell endeavors, but that’s exactly why I expect more from him.)
@Sunday I get that. He definitely leans into the idea that he has these superior Sussex sources, and while I think he may have had some more sources when they were in the UK, I don’t think he really has any now at Archewell or the Sussex household. I think the big difference is that he can call up the Sussexes spokesperson (probably has them on speed dial lol) and get a response, and so many of the other RRs can’t anymore. So it can seem a lot of times like he has inside sources when really he was just able to get an actual quote from the official press office.
I also think that the RRs push the idea of him as the Sussex spokesperson as a way to discredit him and to diminish him, which bugs me. He’s a reporter, like you (you = RRs….well they’re kind of reporters.) He has sources, like you. If he’s the sussex spokesperson, then what the hell are Dan Wootton, Richard Eden, Rebecca English, etc?
I think the crying story originally in Finding Freedom proves the Sussexes and Omid’s point that he and Carolyn didn’t interview the Sussexes directly for the book. The correction on the crying story was one of the first points brought up by Meghan and Oprah during the sit down part of the interview. If he interviewed palace staff for the book, no way they come out and say Kate was the bully. They left that for Meghan to say herself.
True, and I know Omid can’t exactly stand up and admit “Meghan and Harry told me nothing! My sources aren’t that great most of the time!”
My main problem is that, despite the Sussexes flat-out denying speaking to him for FF, Omid himself admitting that they didn’t, AND him being so obviously wrong about such an inane but nevertheless significant story for Meghan about the crying, he’s still regarded as and referred to as the Sussex’s mouthpiece in media outlets that should frankly know better. Of course the RRs and royalists use it to ridicule him, but the US media generally does treat him as if he is some sort of insider which is just lazy journalism.
It doesn’t mean that he should be personally disparaged or his work completely invalidated, but it should change the framework surrounding his reporting and the unearned weight given to his version of events. Facts matter, and the crying story is proof positive that he’s just as fallible as everyone else who is not Meghan or Harry, and yet media outlets that should know better ignore that and help continue the illusion that he speaks for the Sussexes.
Omid doesn’t really spill tea but I always appreciate him. Finding Freedom may be super sweet, but at least one non-venomous account of the sussexes exists. He gets a lot of hate for not jumping on the anti-Meghan bandwagon the rest of the RR rides on.
I think Omid is in a tough position, where he wants to be more than just a stenographer, but he has to keep access to his royal sources, so he really does have to walk a fine line sometimes. He’s also not white so I think that gives him a different perspective than someone like Chris Ship or Richard Kay/Eden etc. What I want to happen is for him to decide he’s done with covering the royals and to write a book just spilling ALL his tea and burning all his contacts and sources etc to the ground.
But even when he made that comment on iTV about KP briefing against Harry’s mental health, the quote got removed from the final broadcast. So who knows how much more he wants to say even now and can’t.
In the spring, the tabloids were saying that he was going to have more info about Sussexit. That is what he denied. And actually it was Lacey who rehashed all of that. It appears the new chapters are all about the year since they left so technically his denial was the truth. I am really bothered by the fact that he is planning to write about he miscarriage and Meghan’s supposed “healing journey”. As talked about above there were numerous things that Omid just flat out got wrong. Just because he is not as toxic as other royal reporters doesn’t meant that he doesn’t engage in the royal reporter habit of making things up. The deposition for the court case completely debunked several things that are in the book. What has he ever reported that indicates they or anyone close to them confides in him other than to correct misinformation. The Oprah interview showed how surface that book was. A miscarriage is so personal and Meghan’s essay was so eloquent and thoughtful I don’t want to see him using that as fodder for trying to prove he has inside info that he doesn’t really have. And the fact that they are releasing it in the anniversary of Diana’s death is just classless and insensitive.
I might be in the minority here but when it comes to Omid, as much as I agree he doesn’t set out to trash the Sussex, he also makes a lot of money off them. I don’t like that the media looks to him for Harry and Meghan news and I don’t like that he willingly goes along with it. They have a publicist and it’s nit him. He could have written a book that read like while Emily or Richard or whoever from the sun paper was saying that Meghan bought down the moon, it Infact was not the truth . We all got the same talking point but we choose to verve off course because of xyz.
I don’t know if I am making sense to you all but what I mean is, he could have nipped a lot of these stories in the bud before they took off years ago and grew to create damaging false narratives about Harry and especially Meghan, but like I said before, even omid used Harry and Meghan to make a dollar at their expense