Oprah Winfrey Blocks Documentary Release Of Her Life Story

Fans wanting to see the Oprah Winfrey documentary being made for Apple TV have gotten some bad news. The documentary, which was created based on her life, will not be released at all. Oprah ended up paying to buy back her rights to the documentary and will not release it.

Here is what you need to know about the Oprah documentary.

Oprah Winfrey Blocks Release Of Documentary

Oprah Winfrey has blocked the release of a documentary about her life. In 2021, Apple TV announced that acclaimed Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald would direct the film about Oprah’s life story. This was a big deal at the time and Macdonald worked on the film over the last few years.

However, problems reportedly arose when Winfrey and Macdonald clashed over what was in the documentary. Since their disagreement, the documentary has been on hold. Kevin finished the movie, but when Oprah didn’t like it, she made her thoughts known. The problem is that the director refused to change it.

It is now out of Macdonald’s hands. Oprah, 70, paid Apple to regain the rights to her life story from them, which means she has the rights to the documentary back from them (via Page Six). Winfrey, who ended her overall deal with Apple in 2022, regained the rights to the documentary when she stopped working with the studio.

“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 spokesperson from Winfrey’s camp said about the project. Another source said Macdonald didn’t refuse to make changes, but Oprah felt it wasn’t a good time to release the documentary.

For those wondering, it isn’t known how much Oprah had to pay Apple to stop the documentary from being released. However, one source said it wasn’t “seven figures” as was suggested.

The Oprah Winfrey Documentary

When Apple made the announcement, the big news was that an Oscar winner would make the Oprah Winfrey documentary. Macdonald won an Oscar for his documentary One Day in September in 1999. This was a feature about the murder of 11 Israeli athletes in 1972.

On top of that, Macdonald also directed the documentaries Touching the Void (2003), Marley (2012), and Whiney (2018), and the fictional dramas The Last King of Scotland (2006), State of Play (2009), and Black Sea (2014). He met Winfrey’s longtime producer, Lisa Erspamer, while he was making Whitney, a documentary about Whitney Houston.

Macdonald was working on making the Oprah Winfrey documentary as a two-part docuseries.

Are you disappointed that the Oprah Winfrey documentary isn’t getting released on Apple TV at all? Do you think there is more to the story than Oprah just wanting to hold it for now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.