Fergie: 'I was in the gutter'

LOS ANGELES, June 1 (UPI) -- The duchess of York says a tape of her offering a tabloid reporter access to former husband Prince Andrew of Britain for $750,000 is an "absolute horror."

During an interview with Oprah Winfrey in Los Angeles aired Tuesday, Sarah Ferguson watched a 3-minute tape released last week of herself cutting a deal with the reporter from News of the World. The reporter set up the sting, asking Ferguson to introduce him to the prince, who works as a trade envoy, in exchange for cash. She was taped pocketing a $40,000 down payment.

"I was in the gutter at that moment," Ferguson said. She said she had been drinking at the time but was not drunk.

"I was not in my right place," she said.

Ferguson, who said she was "substantially" in debt and considering bankruptcy, described her actions as "gross stupidity." She said she is close to going into a panic every time she thinks about it.

"It's an absolute horror," Ferguson said, explaining that the tape had been edited to cut scenes of her crying.

Ferguson said the meeting was set up by friends. The reporter pretended to be a friend of the son of one of her friends. She said accepted the down payment on the behalf of a friend who needed $38,000 desperately. The reporter had told her friends he wanted to invest in Ferguson's children's books and her other business interests.

She said she "instinctively knew" the man was a reporter but was "so out of control with desperation … (to) help my friends" she went on with the meeting anyway.

Ferguson denied allegations she ever had attempted anything like this before.