A bio-documentary about Oprah Winfrey on Apple TV+ will ultimately not be shown, even though Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald has completed filming.

According to a new report, Winfrey refunded the amount Apple paid her for the project in order to prevent the film from being broadcast…

Apple TV and Oprah Winfrey

Apple announced a partnership with Winfrey for a documentary series back in 2019. This resulted in a much-noticed interview with Prince Harry and a number of other shows.

Oprah was able to create several shows for Apple TV+, including The self you cannot see, The Oprah Interview, Oprah’s Book ClubAnd Oprah talks about COVID-19

That partnership ended in 2022, but Apple had commissioned a two-part biographical documentary that has not yet aired.

The documentary is by Kevin MacDonald and Lisa Erspamer, the duo behind the Whitney Houston documentary WhitneyErspamer worked with Winfrey on The Oprah Winfrey Show for a decade and (it was said) that Winfrey was a fan of the Whitney Houston documentary.

Oprah Winfrey’s biodoc will not be shown

However, Page Six reports that the film will not be shown – because Winfrey gave Apple a refund to prevent it from being broadcast.

As Page Six can reveal, Oprah Winfrey paid the bosses of Apple TV+ a fortune to buy back the rights to a documentary about her life (…)

A spokesperson for Winfrey, who ended her content deal with Apple in September 2022, confirmed to Page Six: “When the Apple TV+ deal ended, Ms. Winfrey bought back the rights to her documentary series and has since decided to put the documentary’s release on hold.

Conflicting reports about the reasons

According to a source, the star was not satisfied with the final version.

“Kevin made the film, but Oprah didn’t like it and refused to make any changes. Oprah paid her fee back to Apple,” a well-informed Hollywood source tells us.

Another claims that this is not the case, but does not provide a plausible alternative explanation.

A source close to Winfrey’s camp insists that Macdonald did not refuse to make changes. Winfrey simply decided “it was not the right time to make a documentary” before taking the unusual step of buying back the film.

It is unclear how much Winfrey had to pay Apple to buy back the rights, and there are conflicting reports as to whether or not the amount was in the millions.

Apple has not commented and is unlikely to do so.

Photo by Julien Andrieux on Unsplash