Sarah Ferguson — who was caught last week offering to sell access to ex-husband Prince Andrew for $750,000 — hasn’t always been so greedy. Her biographer, Allan Starkie, tells Page Six she turned down plenty of money offers over the years, including $3 million from a Saudi prince she called “Rubber Lips” who wanted to bed her.
“A blue jeans manufacturer offered a million pounds [about $1.46 million at today’s rate] for the duchess to simply model a pair for publicity photos. A prominent American real estate developer promised her a free condominium on Central Park South . . . in return for permission to mention that she was a tenant,” says Starkie, the author of “Fergie: Her Secret Life” (1996).
Starkie recalls, “A West End theater suggested that she portray the wild Queen Boadicea, who had opposed the Romans, opposite Peter O’Toole in a limited engagement for a quarter of a million pounds. A clever East End businessman offered a pound per night for each occupant of his proposed ‘Duchess of York Old Age Homes.’ ”
“Sarah had no real source of income,” Starkie explained. “She insisted on hiring a retinue of servants that she felt was necessary to provide the right environment for her two daughters, who were, after all, princesses.”
When her debts approached 3 million pounds, “I introduced her to a member of the Saudi royal family who was willing to pay it off completely,” Starkie said. “I arranged for Sarah to visit him . . . he met her alone, clad in flowing robes and a lascivious grin . . .
“When he tried to kiss her, she fled home and quickly called me, referring to the fellow dismissively as ‘Rubber Lips,’ indicating that when those lips sprung forward and plastered themselves upon her mouth, ‘it felt like extricating oneself from a suction cup’ as she pulled free.
“Perhaps one does not think it is laudatory simply not to prostitute oneself, or to turn down offers that seem too pedestrian for royalty. But it remains that she did turn them down. She had limits.”