English actress Natalie Dormer has announced she will donate her entire salary for playing Sarah, Duchess of York in a new TV series to a charity for victims of sexual abuse.
Dormer, one of the UK’s most acclaimed actresses, has already completed filming on ITV drama The Lady – a dramatisation of Fergie’s former staffer who later committed murder.
The highly anticipated project is currently in post-production but Dormer has announced she will no longer promote the project amid Fergie’s email scandal.
“Since completing the project, new information has come to light that makes it impossible for me to reconcile my values with Sarah Ferguson’s behaviour, which I believe is inexcusable,” Dormer told The Telegraph.
“For that reason, I will not be taking part in the promotion of the project. In keeping with my commitment to the wellbeing of children.
“I have donated my entire salary from this project to the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) and the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse.”
The project will mark the most high-profile dramatisation of Fergie’s life to date after Sarah and Andrew were largely left out of Netflix’s The Crown.
Fergie herself expressed her surprise after the Yorks were hardly featured in The Crown and even contacted the show’s producers to suggest ideas for her character.
The Duchess of York is facing renewed scrutiny over a resurfaced 2011 email to Jeffrey Epstein in which she called him her “supreme friend” despite publicly distancing herself from the sex offender.
Fergie described Epstein, a former financier and child sex offender, as a “steadfast, generous and supreme friend” to her in an email sent in April 2011, which only recently became public.
As a result, several charities have dropped Ferguson as a patron in recent days, including a children’s hospice and the Teenage Cancer Trust.
A spokesperson for the Duchess of York told Sky UK that the email was written because Ferguson feared legal reprisals from Epstein.
The public backlash comes after Prince Andrew’s own reputation was destroyed over his ties to Epstein, prompting the late Queen to strip the Duke of York of his titles and patronages.
Since King Charles has taken the throne, Fergie has been re-invited to family events such as Easter Mattins service and Christmas at Sandringham after decades of exile.
Ferguson, 64, was also seated prominently in the Royal Box at Wimbledon earlier this year for the first time since the 1990s.
Despite divorcing in 1996, the Yorks continue to live together in the palatial Royal Lodge and Fergie has continued to publicly support her ex-husband after his fall from grace.