The True Story Behind Netflix’s Rebel Royals

Royal Families are no strangers to scandal. Perhaps the most recent and high-profile is the infamous falling out between Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and the British Royal Family. But just as fascinating, even if it inspired fewer global headlines, was when Norway’s princess, Märtha Louise, fell in love with an American named Durek Verrett, whose profession as a Hollywood shaman raised eyebrows and drew massive media scrutiny. Verrett counts various celebrities among his clients, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Nina Dobrev. Verrett would also be the first Black man to marry into a European Royal Family. Their relationship is the focus of the new Netflix documentary, Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story.

While it may seem shocking that a princess would marry a shaman, it’s clear from watching Rebel Royals that these two people are tremendously well-suited for one another. Norway’s princess, Märtha Louise, claims to be a clairvoyant who can communicate with angels. She’s steeped in alternative medicines and practices, having opened her own practice in 2018, Astarte Education, known as engleskolen (or “angel school”), where she teaches others how to communicate with angels and the dead. 

Durek is a popular shaman who wrote the 2019 book Spirit Hacking: Shamanic Keys to Reclaim Your Personal Power, Transform Yourself, and Light Up the World. He’s influential on social media, where he has amassed nearly 500,000 followers on Instagram. Though he charges $1,500 for a session, Verrett considers himself a shaman for everyone; “I’m a shaman for the people,” he says in Rebel Royals. He describes himself as a “soul-sexual” in the documentary, meaning that gender doesn’t factor into his attraction for others.

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Verrett and Louise first met in 2018, and say they shared an instant familiarity, believing that they had known each other already. Verrett says that when Louise told him they’d met before, he immediately recalled a past life in Egypt where she was next to him on the throne. Both Verrett and Louise announced their relationship on Instagram without consulting their teams beforehand, and when they landed in Norway for Verrett to meet Louise’s family for the first time, the media storm was already underway.

To propose, Verrett needed an appointment with her parents—the King and Queen of Norway—to ask for permission for her hand in marriage. “It took a while, but I got the blessings from her mom and dad,” says Verrett. The proposal set off alarm bells in the Norwegian media, with unverified claims that Verrett was blackmailing Louise. Her being fourth in line for the throne led people to believe that Verrett was trying to insert himself in the royal family to ascend to the Norwegian throne.

Verrett says in the film that he found being among royals, and their world of strict, unbreakable rules, stifling. Norway, with a population of approximately 5.5 million, is driven by Janteloven, an unwritten social code dominant in the region. These tenets include that one shouldn’t believe they are better than anyone else, that they know more than anyone else, that they’re good at anything, or even that anyone cares about them. That may sound harsh to American sensibilities, but it’s a subtle and very subdued culture—which can lead to a significant clash with those who abide by American cultural norms and the very different lifestyle that follows. These cultural differences stoked the media fires further, as Verrett is larger than life in every sense, unapologetically himself and proud of it, which conflicts with Norwegian janteloven.

As a result of his relationship with Märtha Louise, Verrett has faced vitriol and racism on his social media, as well as in the media at large. After Oprah’s widely watched interview with Meghan Markle in 2021, the Norwegian royals became concerned that the family was perpetuating the same kind of discrimination toward Verrett, who shares in the documentary that he had a private conversation about the issue with the royals. Diverging from the route taken by the British Monarchy, the King of Norway decided to release a statement to the press, in November of 2022, saying that he unequivocally condemned the treatment of Verrett in the media, a refreshing stance that the Royal Family was unwilling to tolerate any form of racism.

Despite the King’s support, the Norwegian press continued their relentless coverage of Verrett. Members of the press and tabloids combed through his previous podcast appearances, which gave them plenty of fodder; in one, Verrett claimed to be part reptile and part andromedan; in another, he revealed explicit details about his sex life. He also came under fire for selling a medallion that he claimed cured him of COVID-19—a product still listed on his website. Rebel Royals also obtained voicemails from 2020 that were leaked to a tabloid by a former friend of Verrett’s, in which Verrett allegedly describes performing sex acts with a male client during a healing session. A title card in the documentary reveals that Verrett denies the allegations and is pursuing a lawsuit against the tabloid that shared the messages.

A poll cited in the documentary revealed that 60% of Norwegians believed Verrett’s actions had caused a decrease in trust in the Royal Family. As a result of growing pressures, Louise stepped down from her remaining duties as Princess in 2022, ceasing to perform official duties on behalf of the Royal Family. This led to a big question: who would pay for the wedding? Typically, a royal wedding is paid for by taxpayers. Instead, Verrett and Louise would have a private wedding, with HELLO paying for exclusive photography rights.