LONDON  — Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson said Sunday she was “very sorry” for her lapse of judgment after she was recorded apparently offering to sell access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, in return for 500,000 pounds ($724,000).

The duchess said in a statement that she had financial problems, but “that is no excuse for a serious lapse in judgment and I am very sorry that this has happened.”

Additional Photos

This image from video, made available by British newspaper News Of The World, purports to show Britain's Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson apparently offering to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew in return for 500,000 pounds ($724,000), in London on an undisclosed date. The Associated Press

“I very deeply regret the situation and the embarrassment caused,” she said.

The tabloid News of the World posted video online that appears to show Ferguson discussing payment terms. She is heard to say “500,000 pounds when you can, to me, open doors.”

Asked if she was referring to the prince, she said: “Yeah.”

The newspaper said Ferguson, 50, spoke to an undercover reporter posing as a businessman.

Andrew is an international British trade ambassador. Both the newspaper and the duchess said he had no knowledge of the meeting.
Buckingham Palace also said the prince had been unaware of the meeting.

The tabloid report is embarrassing for Ferguson, but there is no suggestion she did anything illegal.

Ferguson married Andrew, who is fourth in line to the throne, in 1986. They had two daughters before divorcing in 1996.

Since then, Ferguson has written children’s books, made television documentaries and acted as a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers.

She also has struggled financially and has said that her divorce settlement was stingy.

Wanted for questioning, producer returns to U.S.

LOS ANGELES — A former “Survivor” producer wanted for questioning in Mexico about his wife’s death has returned to the United States, his lawyer said Sunday.

Bruce Beresford-Redman returned to Los Angeles County “to attend to family and personal matters,” attorney Richard Hirsch said in a statement.

Hirsch said Beresford-Redman, who has not been charged with a crime, had no legal obligation to remain in Mexico while authorities investigate the death of his wife, Monica. Her body was found in a sewer at the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun in April.

Beresford-Redman’s passport had been confiscated, and he was ordered not to leave Mexico. Police described him as a suspect. It was unclear how he left Mexico without a passport.

Calls to Hirsch were not returned Sunday.

Hypnotic Thai film wins top honors at Cannes

CANNES, France — The entrancing Thai film “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” won the top honor at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, while Academy Award winners Juliette Binoche and Javier Bardem earned acting honors.

“Uncle Boonmee,” directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, traces the dreamlike final days of a man dying of kidney failure as the ghost of his dead wife returns to tend him and his long-lost son comes home in the form of a furry jungle spirit.

“I would like to thank my mother and my father, who 30 years ago, they took me to a little cinema in our little town, and I was so young and didn’t know what it was on the screen,” said Weerasethakul. “… With this award, I think I know a little more what cinema is, but it still remains a mystery. I think this mystery keeps us coming back here and to share our world.”

Binoche won best actress for the cryptic love story “Certified Copy,” and Bardem earned his best-actor honor for “Biutiful,” a grim portrait of a dying father supporting his family with criminal rackets. Also playing a father in crisis, Elio Germano shared the award for “Our Life.”

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