Sumner Redstone died in August 2020. And now a new biography of the billionaire media mogul is set to be published that makes a number of revelations about the man, including accusations of sexual assault. “Unscripted: The Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy,” by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalists James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams is due out in February 2023.
The publishers describe the book as “the shocking inside story of the struggle for power and control at Paramount, the multibillion-dollar entertainment empire controlled by the Redstone family, and the dysfunction, misconduct, and deceit that threatened the future of the company.”
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“Unscripted is an explosive and unvarnished look at the usually secret inner workings of two public companies, their boards of directors, and a wealthy family in the throes of seismic changes.”
A few years before his death at the age of 97, Sumner Redstone was already in trouble as his mental health deteriorated and his daughter Shari battled for control of his Viacom media empire. In 2016, Manuela Herzer, a former lover, threatened a lawsuit.
Sumner Redstone was a visionary. He built up Viacom into a behemoth of an entertainment company. He combined Paramount movie studios with the CBS television network under one roof.
When already in his 90s, Redstone had the clichéd old rich man’s problems from a failed relationship with a much younger woman. Sydney Holland was almost 50 years his junior. In the last years of Redstone’s life she was one of a number of women who tried to sue Mr. Redstone for various reasons. Holland complained that he broke a promise to marry her.
Mr. Redstone’s children stepped in to protect their father who they felt was being taken advantage of by young women who exploited his old age for their own benefit. Four years ago he stepped down as the head of Viacom and turned operational control of the company over to his daughter Shari Redstone.
Sumner Redstone was worth an estimated $2.6 billion when he died.
