'That's just not true': Shaman Durek moves to clarify controversial comments about Norway's King and Queen in new documentary

The celebrity healer husband of Princess Märtha Louise has moved to clarify comments he made about Norway's King in a controversial documentary in which he claimed the monarch "didn't even know what racism was".

Shaman Durek Verrett, who is Black and American, says his comments about racism and King Harald V have been "twisted by the media".

Hours after Rebel Royals premiered, Durek and Princess Märtha Louise issued a statement apologising for their role in the film and admitting they recognised "the seriousness of this situation".

Verrett has been subjected to racist abuse because of his relationship with Princess Märtha Louise, the King's eldest daughter, and they married in August last year, defying their critics.

The 50-year-old shared a video statement on Instagram attempting to clear up his comments made in Rebel Royals, which premiered on Netflix last week, insisting "I love my father in law and my mother in law deeply".

Durek said that he and the King and Queen "have a strong and respectful relationship".

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Speaking on his social media page, Durek said: "People have this idea that I don't love my in-laws and that I don't have a great respect for my in-laws, and that's just not true".

"In the documentary Rebel Royals, I talk about my in-laws not understanding racism. But what I meant is, they don't understand the impact that racism plays on my life [during the years of] coming back and forth to Norway and on the lives of people of colour who live in Norway.

"I want to point out how powerful and how moving it was for me to see my in-laws step up and go out into the press and make a statement against racism and against how it was affecting my life.

"Spending time with my in-laws and being able to have that conversation with them when they didn't have to talk about it is huge and it shows the progressiveness of this family."

King Harald, 88, is Europe's oldest-serving monarch.

In Rebel Royals, Durek spoke at length about the racism he faced by some sectors of the press and the public, mainly in Norway.

The Royal House of Norway, in 2022, issued a statement condemning the racism directed at Verrett. But, at first, the royal house was hesitant to speak out about the verbal abuse – silence that angered Durek.

In the documentary Durek claimed the King and his wife Queen Sonja, and Crown Prince Haakon, "didn't even know what racism was", adding "they would look at me like I'm crazy when I would say that there's racism".

"It was only when Harry and Meghan went into the press with Oprah did I get a message from the King saying, 'Do you feel that we've treated you the same way?'

"And when I said yes, they were like, 'OK, well, we need to have a family discussion.' And of course, my family is like, 'They don't want to have a family discussion because they don't want to treat you that way, they want to have a family discussion cause they're afraid you might be the next one on Oprah.' Like, let's be real."

In the documentary, Durek recalled his conversation with the King and Queen about the racist attacks.

"When the King and Queen sat down with me, I said, 'You obviously see that Märtha loves me, and you love your daughter. Why aren't you helping protect us?'

"And finally, her parents listened to me, and the King said he has no tolerance for the way people have been treating me. So they wrote a press release about racism and how I've been treated, which was huge.

"Once we were able to hash it out as a family in a loving way, it brought us closer together."

'I was wearing a kimono and cowboy boots'

Durek also addressed comments he made in Rebel Royals about the King and Queen's reaction to him when they first met.

"When I talked about coming into the family and how they looked at me, that's normal for anyone who would go into any family for the first time because people want to make sure that person is right for their daughter or their son," Durek said on Instagram.

"The truth is I love my in-laws and I want the best for them and I appreciate them. I just want to clear that up."

Shaman Durek met King Harald and Queen Sonja during his first visit to Norway, eight months after his relationship with Märtha Louise began.

Durek expressed shock at their reaction to his outfit of cowboy boots and a kimono instead of a suit during their first face-to-face interaction, claiming Märtha Louise didn't give him "any clues on anything" on protocol.

"When I met the Queen and King, they were just staring at me, and it was dead silence," Durek said.

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"I was wearing a kimono and cowboy boots. I had no idea I was supposed to wear a suit because I thought I could be myself, as Märtha explained.

"And that wasn't the case, obviously, because they hated my clothes. I mean, pretty much everything I did was wrong. And they would always let Martha know that I was wrong.

"It wasn't like, 'Oh, welcome to our family, we love you, we get you.' It was like, 'Why are you with this guy?'"

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