NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern distances herself from Harry and Meghan over new Netflix doc she’s in

2022-12-21

New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Arden has released a statement explaining how her interview in the upcoming Live to Lead series was conducted in 2019, before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle became involved with the documentary.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will present Live to Lead, a docu-series inspired by the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela.

The series, which will release on Netflix on December 31, will see world leaders and activists "reflect on their legacies and share messages of courage, compassion, humility, hope and generosity."

Interviewees will include climate change activist Greta Thunberg, feminist icon and social justice activist Gloria Steinem, and the late U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

While it's unclear exactly when Meghan and Harry became involved in the project, Jacinda Arden's office have released a statement clarifying that her interview was conducted before the collaboration with Archewell products was announced.

The statement reads: “In early March 2019 the prime minister was approached by the Mandela Foundation to participate in a project to develop accessible resources on key attributes of leadership targeted at aspiring young leaders around the world, based off a one-hour interview.

"Originally we were advised the outputs would be printed and digital books, short films and audiobooks.

"The interview was conducted on November 8, 2019. In March 2020 a short book entitled Jacinda Ardern (I Know This to be True) was published based on the interview.

"Other participants who also had their contributions published based on their interviews included the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the feminist activist Gloria Steinem, the climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and the American basketball player Stephen Curry.

“In March 2021 the Nelson Mandela Foundation advised the prime minister’s office they had secured an agreement with Netflix to broadcast the series of interviews, including the 2019 interview with the prime minister.

“In May this year, the prime minister’s office was notified that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would introduce the series; noting this was nearly two and a half years after the interview had been recorded and permission for its use by the Mandela Foundation had already been provided.

“All communication throughout has been with the foundation (there has been no communications with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex regarding the project).”

The new documentary comes just weeks after the two-part release of Netflix's Harry & Meghan, which covered everything from Harry and Meghan's exit from royal life to their life now in California with children Archie and Lilibet.

The controversial series also saw Harry claim that William “screamed and shouted” at him during a summit about his and Meghan's stepping down as official royals.

While Meghan claimed that that the Palace planted headlines about her, in order to stop stories about other royals from coming out.

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