BBC's investigative journalist Tom Bower has been offered a six-figure deal to write a new tell-all covering the life of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.
According to reports, Bower is expected to conduct his research into the duchess' biography by 2022 and will leave no stones unturned and "pull no punches" about her life story. He is said to be planning to talk to both friends and foes of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, including her family members, to give a balanced and accurate account. The journalist plans to conduct a year-long gathering of materials for the book.
Sources told The Sun that Meghan will be dreading this biography because Bower is known for his thorough research. Described as a journalist with an "acid-pen," Bower worked for 12 years as a Panorama correspondent.
He has written biographies for personalities like Richard Branson, Robert Maxwell and Prince Charles. In the 2018 book Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles, Bower was critical of the Prince of Wales and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
The Meghan Markle tell-all will be published by Simon & Schuster after it won the rights to Bower's work following a bidding war. He will potentially also touch on the complaints against Meghan from the royal staff at Kensington Palace.
The still-untitled book will follow the 2020 release of Finding Freedom, Harry and Markle's bestselling biography, from Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. The book covered the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's exit from their royal duties, as well as the first two years of their life together as a royal couple.
Scobie and Durand also talked to the couple's friends and associates for the story but did not conduct a sit-down interview with Harry and Markle. A spokesperson for the pair said that they did not collaborate with Scobie and Durand.
However, during the deliberation of Meghan’s court case against Daily Mail, her lawyer confirmed that she permitted a friend to speak to the authors of Finding Freedom to correct one story about her relationship with her father, Thomas Markle. According to reports, the Duchess of Sussex wanted the friend to relay her side of the story because she was concerned that it might be further misrepresented.
For Bower's book, however, sources said that Meghan Markle will not want any part of it and might likely bar her friends from speaking to the journalist. The publishers expect this tell-all to be another bombshell. (Business Times)