Natalie Dormer has said she won’t promote ITV and Britbox‘s upcoming drama series “The Lady,” in which she plays Sarah Ferguson, following revelations over the Duchess of York’s connections to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Brit actress has also said she has donated her entire salary from the show to charities focused on child abuse.
The news comes after a leaked email from 2011 was recently published appearing to show Ferguson, the former wife of Prince Andrew, apologizing to Epstein having publicly rejected him years after he was jailed for sex offenses in 2008.
“You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family,” she wrote, weeks after saying in an interview that her involvement with Epstein, including borrowing money from him, had been a “gigantic error of judgement” and that she would have “nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.”
In the leaked email to Epstein, she says she “humbly apologized” to him and “know you feel hellaciously let down by me.”
“The Lady,” from “The Crown” producer Left Bank Pictures, is a partly fictionized drama chronicling the rise-and-fall of former royal dresser Jane Andrews (being played by Mia McKenna-Bruce), who worked for Ferguson before being convicted of the murder of her boyfriend Thomas Cressman (Ed Speleers) in 2001. The four-part series shot earlier this year and is expected to release in late 2025 or early 2026.
“When I agreed to take the role in ‘The Lady,’ I knew portraying the script’s Sarah Ferguson would require nuance. People are layered, their journeys are full of highs and lows, and as an actor, my job is to lean into those elements and bring them to life with honesty and empathy,” Dormer said in a statement to Variety. “Since completing the project, new information has come to light that makes it impossible for me to reconcile my values with Sarah Ferguson’s behavior, which I believe is inexcusable. For that reason, I will not be taking part in the promotion of the project.”
Dormer added: “In keeping with my commitment to the well-being of children, I have donated my entire salary from this project to the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) and the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (hosted by Barnardo’s).”
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Dormer noted that her decision was “not a reflection” of her experience working with Left Bank. “They are an extraordinary company to collaborate with and I’m grateful for the time we spent together,” she said.
In the wake of the revelations involving Ferguson, numerous charities have dropped her as a patron or ambassador, including the Teenage Cancer Trust, the Children’s Literacy Charity and the British Heart Foundation.
When the emails were published, a spokesperson for the duchess claimed that they had been written to counter a threat from Epstein to sue her for defamation, according to the BBC, and that she still regretted her association with him.
“This email was sent in the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats,” they said said in a statement.
From Variety US