Bob Chapek is breaking his silence. The former CEO of The Walt Disney Company has a memoir coming this fall. It’s titled “Behind the Castle Walls,” and Amazon lists a September 29th release from Gallery Books. Here’s the latest.
Bob Chapek Announces Tell-All Book “Behind the Castle Walls”
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- Bob Chapek’s memoir “Behind the Castle Walls” releases September 29th
- The book covers his CEO tenure from the COVID-19 pandemic through his 2022 firing
- Chapek began his Disney career in 1993 as a home video marketing director
Chapek began his career at Disney in 1993. He started as marketing director for home video. Over the next twenty-seven years, he climbed through leadership roles across the company. The board named him CEO in 2020, giving him the most coveted and most scrutinized position at Disney during one of the toughest times of the company.
According to the book’s Amazon listing, that promotion’s timing is central to the story Chapek says he’s finally ready to tell. He’d been CEO for just weeks when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Parks, resorts, cruise ships, live sports, and film and television production all shut down. Chapek had to steer the company through what the listing describes as unprecedented circumstances. The board fired him as CEO on November 20, 2022, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger returned to the role. As we reported when a Chapek spokesperson issued his first public statement since the firing, Chapek had largely stayed silent on his time running the company until that point.
The listing frames the 272-page book as Chapek’s attempt to answer questions that have followed him since his departure. Was he given a fair shot at the job, or was he set up to fail? What really drove the decision to bring Iger back? How did decisions made during the pandemic shape the Disney that exists today? The listing states that Chapek spent four years reflecting before deciding to tell his story. It also states that he hopes the book will define what he calls his true legacy. Despite everything, the listing adds, he remains a lifelong Disney fan who wants the company’s magic to endure for future generations.
Chapek’s account arrives as another book covering the same period takes shape. Wall Street Journal reporter Robbie Whelan is writing an unauthorized Iger biography. Disney has reportedly hired an attorney to push back against it, and some inside the company believe Chapek may be among the sources Whelan drew on for that project.
The listing describes “Behind the Castle Walls” as a memoir of ambition, power, and corporate intrigue set inside what it calls the happiest company on earth. Chapek grew up in a small town in Indiana, the son of a World War II veteran father. The listing credits that upbringing with instilling the grit and curiosity that carried him through nearly three decades at Disney.
Keep Reading
- Chapek stayed quiet for nearly a year after his firing before a spokesperson finally addressed his tenure, in our report on his first public statement since the November 2022 firing.
- Disney has already moved to fight one book about this era behind the scenes, as we covered when the company hired an attorney to push back against an unauthorized Bob Iger biography.
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