'I had been drinking', claims Fergie

Britain's Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, has told Oprah Winfrey she was drinking and "in the gutter" during a videotaped sting in which she apparently offered to sell access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, Reuters reported today.

"I'm aware of the fact that I've been drinking, you know, that I was not in my right place," Ferguson said in an interview set to air tomorrow on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Ferguson said she had seen the video while traveling through airports recently but had not sat down to watch it closely: "I haven't faced the devil in the face. Because I was in the gutter at that moment," she said, according to a transcript released by the show, Reuters reported.

Tape of the sting was posted on the website of News of the World, which set up the meeting.

In it, Ferguson appears to ask for $40,000 in cash and half a million pounds later, in exchange for introducing a 'weathy businessman' to the Prince.

In truth, the businessman was an undercover NOTW reporter.