Sarah Ferguson was involved in a long-running 'friends with benefits' relationship with rapper and producer Sean 'Diddy' Combs that lasted for years in the 2000s, according to royal biographer Andrew Lownie, who repeated the allegation on The Megyn Kelly Show on Wednesday.
The claim, which centres on the ex-Duchess of York's private life after her separation from ex-prince Andrew, is fiercely disputed by a source close to Sarah Ferguson and has been denied by Combs' representatives.
The news came after weeks of drip-fed headlines from Lownie's latest book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, in which he sets out what he says is a pattern of risky relationships and financial dependence surrounding Ferguson and Prince Andrew. In the book, and now in broadcast interviews, Lownie ties Sarah Ferguson to Combs, the disgraced music mogul facing a string of lawsuits and accusations in the United States, alleging the pair moved from party acquaintances to a casual sexual relationship over several years.
None of those claims has been tested in court, and those close to Ferguson insist the story is wrong.
Sarah Ferguson And Diddy: Claims Of A Years-Long 'Friends With Benefits' Tie
Speaking to host Megyn Kelly, Lownie said his reporting led him to conclude that Sarah Ferguson and Combs developed what he bluntly called a 'friends with benefits relationship that went on for many years.'
He initially wrote that the pair first met at a 2002 party hosted by Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's long-time associate, before amending his timeline after new photographs emerged.
'I thought they met in 2002, but in fact it just now emerged of her at his birthday party in 1998,' Lownie told Kelly, citing an image of Ferguson at an event for the rapper four years earlier than he had believed. The author presents that photograph, and what he says are multiple pictures of them together on other occasions, as evidence that the connection between Sarah Ferguson and Combs was closer than either has admitted.
Ferguson, who has built a second career as a children's author and media personality, has in the past been quoted as saying she only met Combs twice. Lownie disputes that. 'There's plenty of photographic evidence of them meeting on numerous occasions,' he argued, before adding that his confidence rests less on photos than on people he has interviewed. 'My source is strong, I'm standing up by it.'
A source close to Sarah Ferguson has dismissed all of this as fantasy. Speaking to The Sun earlier in May, they described the story as 'fabricated nonsense', and there has been no indication from Ferguson's camp that she intends to engage further with the specific allegations. Combs' representatives have also denied the claims set out in the book.
For context, Lownie's biography portrays Ferguson as someone drawn to celebrity and power, often to her own detriment. On Kelly's show, he elaborated, claiming she 'liked rappers' and would book them to perform at children's birthday parties. He went further still, suggesting she had 'obsessions' with wealthy and high-profile men, listing Tiger Woods, Kevin Costner, and John F. Kennedy Jr among figures she is said to have admired.
'She liked bad boys, and there's a whole history of getting involved with men who were very unsuitable,' Lownie told Kelly, framing the alleged relationship with Combs as part of a broader pattern of risk-taking in her personal life and dealings with financial backers.
Royal Access And The Allure Of Celebrity For Sarah Ferguson
Andrew Lownie also argues that Combs himself was 'very keen' to attach himself to the British royal family, citing his appearances at high-profile events attended by senior royals. One widely-circulated image shows Combs alongside Prince William, Prince Harry, and Kanye West at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in 2007, an image used by Lownie to suggest the rapper was actively cultivating royal connections.
Inside Entitled, Lownie writes that Sarah Ferguson and Combs' relationship allegedly turned sexual around 2004, two years after the Maxwell party where he says they were introduced. He claims Combs boasted to colleagues about sleeping with Ferguson and even remarked that he 'could not wait until Fergie's daughters [Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie] come of age.' That detail, if accurately reported, is likely to cause particular offence, though it remains entirely unverified beyond Lownie's sourcing.
Combs' camp has rejected the allegations, and there has been no independent corroboration of the supposed comments. No legal action has been launched in relation to Lownie's reporting, but the broader backdrop is awkward: Combs is already under intense scrutiny in the US, facing multiple civil cases and a bruising reputational collapse. Lownie's portrait of his private life overlaps with that broader narrative, even as Ferguson is drawn in on the fringes.
Pressed by The Times on 9 May about whether he would reconsider his claims under pressure, Lownie was blunt. 'It's fully sourced with former employees of P. Diddy and Sarah Ferguson,' he said, adding that he 'stands by' his book in its entirety. He has not, however, released any of those sources or their testimonies publicly, leaving readers to weigh his reputation as a biographer against outright denials from those he is writing about.
Nothing in Lownie's account has been independently confirmed, and the alleged sexual relationship between Sarah Ferguson and Sean Combs rests for now on anonymous sources and the author's judgment. Until or unless more hard evidence emerges, the story sits in that murky space where the royal rumour mill thrives and the truth, as usual, is harder to pin down than the headlines.
IBTimes UK has reached out to Sarah Ferguson's reps for comments.
