Oprah Winfrey bought back rights to Apple documentary about her to ‘stop its release’

Television talk show legend Oprah Winfrey has paid a substantial sum of money to Apple TV+ in order to buy back the rights to a documentary about her life, a new report has revealed.
The popular talk show host — who recently sat down with Kamala Harris for a revealing interview— was announced to be the subject of the film from Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald back in 2021 as he was agreed as director for the production.
But sources claimed that despite creating and completing the project alongside Oprah’s long running producer Lisa Erspamer the whole thing was put on hold when Kevin clashed with 70-year-old billionaire Oprah and has remained that way ever since.
A Hollywood source told Page Six: “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.”
Oprah has since ended her deal with Apple in September 2022 and made sure she took the rights to the documentary with her to avoid it ever being seen.
A spokesperson for Oprah confirmed to the publication: “As the Apple TV+ deal was coming to an end, Ms. Winfrey bought back the rights to her docuseries and has since decided to put the doc on hold.
“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.”
A source close to Oprah has claimed that there was no refusal to edit the project from Kevin, and that Oprah canned the documentary simply because she felt “it wasn’t the right time to do a documentary” before deciding that she would cement the decision by buying it back.
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Industry sources have speculated that Oprah would have paid in the millions to regain control of the project from Apple.
However, a source in the know has denied those claims and said the sum did not reach seven figures.
Lisa is a long-time friend of Oprah after they worked together for several years with her serving as a producer on The Oprah Winfrey Show for a decade between 1999 and 2009.
Lisa and Kevin first met on another project having previously worked together on the documentary which told the story of tragic singer Whitney Houston’s life, Whitney.