Prince Harry's Book Divides Celebs: Candace Owens and More Have Their Say

Prince Harry's newly published book Spare has divided opinion among celebrities after smashing sales records after the highly anticipated release.

Harry's "raw" and "unflinching" memoir became the fastest-selling non-fiction book in British history, selling over 400,000 copies in its first day.

Interest around the book soared in the lead-up to its January 10 publication date, in part owing to a number of high-profile interviews undertaken by Harry to promote it, but also to the book's content being leaked ahead of time when media outlets were able to obtain unauthorized copies.

A number of claims and anecdotes made in the book have earned Harry equal measures of criticism and sympathy, from the account of a physical attack by Prince William in 2019 to his history of drug taking, the loss of his virginity and the claim that he killed 25 Taliban fighters during his tours of Afghanistan with the British Armed Forces.

With the book's publication a number of celebrities have voiced their opinions on the book. Here Newsweek rounds up the highlights so far.

Candace Owens

Conservative commentator Candace Owens is no stranger to voicing her opinions on Prince Harry or Meghan Markle, previously comparing the duchess to disgraced journalist Martin Bashir in response to the couple's Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan.

Owens took to her eponymous podcast on Spare's publication date to give her assessment of the book, though admitting to viewers: "I did not read Prince Harry's book. In fact, I paid somebody else to read Prince Harry's Spare so that I didn't have to."

The commentator's views of the book were expectedly negative, with a key criticism being that in writing it, Harry has removed the level of mystery surrounding the royal family that is so desirable to the public.

"We wanted to believe that the royal family was unobtainable, that they were better than us, that they were above us [...] This secret shrouded in mystery was the royal family," she said. "And then something happened. Prince Harry opened his mouth and now we know—at least in terms of Prince Harry—they're basically, I wouldn't even say just like the Kardashians, there are elements of this book that I actually do believe are below what Kim Kardashian would even publicize."

Owens went on to call the prince "despicable" for working with the media he condemns in his book to then promote it. "There is a special place in hell reserved for people like Prince Harry," she said.

Sharon Osbourne

Sharon Osbourne has come under fire in the past for her outspoken views on Harry and Meghan, leaving her spot on the U.S. panel show The Talk in a dispute over her opinion of the couple's 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview.

After the contents of Spare were leaked in the press and Harry gave the first of his TV interviews promoting it, Osbourne appeared on Britain's TalkTV, saying that Harry has "turned his life and the royal family's life into a soap opera."

In a separate appearance with the same network she described Harry as a "man baby," adding: "He's so childish yet he's an adult, yet the things he says are so childish and he's got no understanding of the real world."

Piers Morgan

One of the most notable critics of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Piers Morgan, has had plenty to say about the Spare memoir, taking to his U.K. talk show to say the prince had now "blown it" with the royal family.

"I have no doubt this is highly entertaining in parts, it's riveting," he said of the book during his Piers Morgan Uncensored TV show. "It's incredibly intrusive but I mean you just can't believe what you're reading. This will be a number 1 bestseller, best of luck to him, it will make millions. But at what cost?"

"He's blown it with his entire family," he continued. "There's no amount of money in the world that would make me do this to my family [...] There's one thing to do with this book, which is rather than buy it and feather his greedy little nest, do what I'm going to do right now, take Spare and chuck it where it belongs—in the bin."

Bethenny Frankel

Ex-Real Housewives of New York City star, Bethenny Frankel, is another celebrity who regularly makes comments about the developments in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's lives including criticizing Meghan's Archetypes podcast and calling the couple's Netflix series a "smash-and-grab job for money."

After the contents of Spare were leaked to the public, including Harry's account of experiencing a frostbitten penis during Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, Frankel blasted the royal on her TikTok account.

"Is it too late to change the name of Harry's book to Dirty Harry Laundry?" she asked her million followers.

"How much more are we going—are we going with Meghan to get a pap smear? I mean, what's next? Honestly," she said.

"I feel like I'm gonna be in a rectal exam with Harry and William. We get it. We got it. What else are we going to do? Like, high colonics with the Royals?"

James Haskell

Though a number of celebrity voices have spoken in condemnation of Harry's memoir, equally others have defended him for speaking his truth and dispelling in his own voice the unverified stories that have circulated in the media about him throughout his life.

James Haskell, a retired pro-rugby player who is close friends with Mike Tindall, Harry's cousin-in-law, appeared on Piers Morgan's talk show in defense of Spare.

"In his position, you very rarely get to tell your story without a journalist interviewing you," he said. "I feel he has written this book as a way of saying, 'regardless of what has happened, this is what I feel' [...] He's put this out there to go: 'This is my version, I've finally got an opportunity to speak.'"

Haskell continued: "Whether he should have spoken or what he said was right or wrong, that's another story. I just feel that people in that position don't often get to tell their story and I think he's done it in a way that most of his peers and most of his family have never had the opportunity to do."

Stephen Colbert

Late night show host Stephen Colbert had the opportunity of interviewing Harry in front of a studio audience during the prince's promotional campaign for Spare, discussing everything from his time in the army to the account of the explosive fight with Prince William.

During the interview, Colbert described Spare as a "very intimate memoir," adding that it was "fascinating" and a "very good read."

The pair discussed some of the controversies surrounding the book leaking, particularly the backlash against Harry's revealing he killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving tours of duty in Afghanistan. The royal discussed with Colbert his belief the "context" of the comment and the wider book had been misreported by the British media.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.