{"id":2025309,"date":"2025-09-16T04:26:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T04:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2025309"},"modified":"2025-09-16T04:26:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T04:26:02","slug":"rebel-royals-an-unlikely-love-story-review-the-one-about-the-princess-and-the-soul-sexual-shaman-television-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/rebel-royals-an-unlikely-love-story-review-the-one-about-the-princess-and-the-soul-sexual-shaman-television-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story review \u2013 the one about the princess and the \u2018soul-sexual\u2019 shaman | Television & radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I<\/span>n 2019 \u2013 two years after her divorce from her former husband Ari Behn \u2013 Norway\u2019s Princess M\u00e4rtha Louise went public with her new partner. To say that Durek Verrett wasn\u2019t what the Norwegian public had in mind would be an understatement: as well as being a Black American man based in Los Angeles, Verrett was also a celebrity shaman who had worked with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow. The trailer for Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story plays up his wild side and the sense that M\u00e4rtha Louise was dramatically departing from tradition by dating \u2013 and later marrying \u2013 him. But, really, this Netflix documentary shows that they have a tremendous amount in common. M\u00e4rtha Louise may be a princess but she is, to use a trendy word, incredibly \u201ccrunchy\u201d<\/a> \u2013 a woman who was communicating with angels and teaching energy healing way back in 2007. The pair are convinced that they met in a past life. And by the time we see them flogging their wedding pictures to a glossy magazine, it\u2019s clear that their connection transcends the spiritual realm and extends to the financial one, too.<\/p>\n

Rebel Royals is presented entirely via talking heads \u2013 most notably, M\u00e4rtha Louise and Verrett \u2013 giving it little narrative cohesion. Interesting titbits are teased throughout, such as Verrett describing himself as \u201csoul-sexual\u201d, and saying he had previously thought he would end up with a male partner. There is a section on the vile racism he faced in Norway<\/a> \u2013 much of it from online trolls, but not helped by initial silence from his new in-laws. (As Verrett notes, when his father-in-law King Harald did speak out, he was praised by Prince Harry, who was himself embroiled in a race-related row with his family.)<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>A \u2018crunchy\u2019 couple \u2026 M\u00e4rtha Louise and Shaman Durek Verrett in Rebel Royals.<\/span> Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But, really, everything here feels inescapably shallow: a mix of gushing comments from the film\u2019s subjects, alarmist tabloid headlines about Verrett brainwashing M\u00e4rtha Louise, and questions from the Norwegian media that are left unanswered. Royal expert Tove Taalesen thinks Verrett is \u201cmaybe a scam artist\u201d, a claim that isn\u2019t explored. <\/strong>Verrett denies being a scammer or a fraud, and sees any criticism towards him as a form of smear campaign, from a press that \u201c[doesn\u2019t] want a shaman who\u2019s Black and bisexual marrying their princess\u201d. That could well be the case, but the film leaves some blanks when it comes to Verrett\u2019s past. We are told that he sold healing medallions during the Covid pandemic; a headline flashes up describing it as \u201cimmoral\u201d but we don\u2019t hear from Verrett himself. <\/strong>Verrett has also been accused of sexual misconduct towards a client, which he denies vehemently, but no questions are put to him here. Instead, we hear a voice note he sent to a friend in 2020, where he describes having \u201ccrossed a line\u201d in a healing session by engaging in a sex act, but apparently in a way that was still consensual. \u201cWhen you have a press that wants to prove to the world that I\u2019m a charlatan, I\u2019m a fake, I\u2019m a conspiracy theorist, I\u2019m evil, I\u2019m dark \u2013 you have a very difficult situation,\u201d he adds to camera. The result is, as with many Netflix documentaries de nos jours, a film that feels, if not one-sided, then not exactly brimming with editorial independence.<\/p>\n