Revealed: Sarah Ferguson's Saucy Past That Makes Her 'Gold-Dust' for U.S. TV Executives 'Fighting Tooth and Nail' to Sign Former Duchess for Prince Harry-Style Interview

Sarah Ferguson's riotous, scandal-streaked past has catapulted her to the top of every major U.S. broadcaster's wish list for a tell-all interview, with executives convinced the 66-year-old could deliver the most sensational royal interview since Prince Harry's sit-down with Oprah Winfrey.

Her mix of misadventure, controversy and decades of uncensored access to the monarchy has turned her into what producers are calling "gold-dust" – and a guest whose life story is so combustible there is a fierce secret bidding war underway to land her first chat since she and her ex-husband Andrew were stripped of their royal titles over their links to pedophile s-- trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Ferguson's sudden reemergence as one of the hottest interview prospects in American television follows a devastating year. Stripped of her duchess title, ordered out of her Royal Lodge home by Christmas and axed from long-standing charitable partnerships, she is now set to living in private accommodation after the palace announced she would no longer retain her former privileges.

Her financial and personal instability, coupled with her well-documented impulsiveness, has left U.S. studios scrambling for a deal to land her tell-all interview about her life and now disgrace.

A senior media source said: "Her past is sensational, chaotic and completely unmatched – she's lived through scandals most networks couldn't invent. That's why everyone's fighting tooth and nail to sign her."

Another insider added: "She isn't polished, she isn't cautious – she's raw television. That's what American audiences love."

Ferguson's four decades in the public eye read like a producer's dream. She burst into the royal family in 1986 in a whirlwind of loud laughter and slapstick charm, famously bonding with the then-Prince Andrew over a food fight that set the tone for their high-octane early years. Initially embraced as "Fabulous Fergie," she soon became tabloid fodder after a spree of missteps – from a lavish New York shopping trip involving 51 pieces of excess luggage to the ill-fated It's a Royal Knockout, a broadcast widely regarded as one of the monarchy's greatest PR disasters. Her luggage scandal saw her re-nicknamed to "Freeloader Fergie."

In 1990, she sold 48 pages of access and images to Hello! magazine for a rumoured $320,000, much to the dismay of Prince Philip, who is said to have thought "she was a bad egg" who would let down the entire royal family. She separated from Andrew in 1992, months after which she was papped getting her toes sucked by her financial adviser.

A palace source said: "Those episodes alone would carry an entire hour of television. She was chaos in heels, and viewers loved every minute."

An adviser familiar with early discussions to land Ferguson's TV chat said: "She moved through the monarchy like a tornado – loud, messy, unpredictable. That makes her catnip for interviewers."

Her difficulties deepened as her debt mounted. WeightWatchers became a major income source, and by the mid-1990s, she owed more than $5 million in debts. Money troubles later pulled her into an ill-fated association with Epstein. Emails have emerged in which she privately begged Epstein's forgiveness after publicly distancing herself from her, and accelerated her recent downfall.

For U.S. networks, the cumulative effect of her scandals is irresistible.

A studio executive said: "It's not simply that she's aware of the secrets – it's that she's willing to spill them. She's been through every kind of royal meltdown imaginable and somehow comes out the other side."

Within palace circles, that prospect is alarming.

One senior royal aide said: "She's sitting on decades' worth of stories – and she's never been known for keeping them to herself."