Oprah Winfrey Reportedly Buys Back Rights to Doc About Her Life to Stop Its Release

In 2021, Apple TV+ declared that it was producing a documentary on Oprah Winfrey; however, the movie was never released. A recent story from Page Six claims that the reason the documentary was shelved was because Winfrey repurchased the rights to the film about her life in order to stop it from airing.

The documentary, which emphasized the life and career of the talk show presenter who later became a media magnate, was directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald. Page Six sources, however, claim that when the project was completed, Winfrey and Macdonald had disagreements over it.

The two-part documentary was planned, and MacDonald collaborated on it with Winfrey’s longtime producer Lisa Erspamer. “Chronicle 25 years of American history through the lens of Winfrey, who rose from humble roots to become a globally famous talk show host, producer, actress, and philanthropist,” reads the official description of the documentary.

An unnamed Hollywood source informed the publication, “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.” “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,” an official for the star informed the site. In September 2022, Winfrey terminated her content agreement with Apple.

“Ms. Winfrey is appreciative of Lisa Erspamer and Kevin MacDonald’s time and effort on the project, and she thinks they are very talented filmmakers,” the representative continued. It was refuted by a second source close to Winfrey’s side, who stated that Winfrey only decided “it wasn’t the right time to do a documentary” before deciding to buy it back.