...By Judah Olanisebee for TDPel Media.
JR Moehringer, the ghostwriter behind Prince Harry’s memoir “Spare,” has revealed the inside story of the book’s creation in a personal essay for The New Yorker.
The 5,000-word piece recounts how the book came to be, the two-year writing process, and the massive media backlash upon its release.
The memoir is the fastest non-selling nonfiction book ever, filled with candid accounts of Prince Harry’s experiences, including losing his virginity and altercations with his brother, Prince William.
Moehringer reveals that he agreed to write Prince Harry’s book because of their immediate chemistry, which came from an unfortunate shared experience: the recent deaths of their mothers.
Moehringer’s mother had just passed away when he began working on the book, and he welcomed the opportunity to speak with someone who understood the never-ending feeling of wishing you could call your mom.
The media attention upon its publication was nothing short of a frenzy, with Moehringer finding himself a tabloid target.
In fact, reporters started stalking him outside his son’s preschool and at his home.
However, this further bonded the pair, with Prince Harry offering support and making promises to help, even though they knew nothing could be done.
Work on the book began in 2020 during lockdown, and the two largely worked over Zoom and on “round the clock” text messaging.
When travel restrictions eased, Moehringer went to stay at a guesthouse on Harry and Meghan’s ranch in Montecito, California.
They also met in person, with Harry befriending Moehringer’s daughter via their shared love of the Disney film Moana.
Many critics and readers wondered why Prince Harry would publish such an intimate, detailed, and at times shockingly revealing book.
Moehringer explains that Harry saw it as a rebuttal to every lie ever published about him.
The book was rigorously fact-checked, but there were endless headlines that it was riddled with inconsistencies and flat-out lies.
Moehringer’s essay is divided into seven key bombshells from the book, including their shared grief, the media campaign against it, and the false claims that it was rife with errors.
Although the book caused quite the stir upon its release, Moehringer reiterates that many “innocent passages” were “hyped into outrages.”
