Bob Chapek’s memoir publishes today, and in it the former Disney CEO says Bob Iger worked to remove him, denies wrongdoing and stands behind the parks pricing changes fans hated. Iger has not responded to most of it.
Bob Chapek has a lot to say about Bob Iger, and it lines up with the earlier exposés done by third-party journalists.
The former Disney CEO’s memoir, Behind the Castle Walls: My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth, was published today, Sept. 29, by Gallery Books. He co-wrote it with Don Yaeger.
The central claim: Chapek says Iger engineered his removal.
What Chapek says happened
Chapek writes that Iger played “an intentional and preconceived role in abruptly ending my ride as Disney C.E.O.”
He alleges Iger disparaged him privately, telling Hollywood figures and Disney loyalists that Chapek had shut him out, while questioning his judgment on pandemic-era film releases.
He says Iger was “the real reason” the board dismissed him, and that Iger had an “incredibly difficult time” letting go of the job.
Some of his comments from the book back up his stance,
Iger “seemed to initiate a relentless three-year campaign to push me out. I’d never expected to endure a drawn-out, purposeful undoing of my leadership.”
He told CNBC
“When I started hearing about lunches that he had and dinners that he had where he was absolutely trashing me, and I’d hear it two, three times in the same week, the same bullet points, the same talking points, I was like, ‘I’ve got a problem.’”
When he would address his concerns to the Disney board about Iger, they reportedly told him ”‘He’ll be gone in two years. It’s OK. That’s Bob being Bob.’”
Chapek is blunt about how it left him. “I didn’t get a chance to finish what I started,” he writes. “In truth, it pisses me off.”
He repeated it on television
Chapek appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Sept. 28, a day before publication.
He said Iger began reassuming control during the pandemic without consulting him, and that he raised concerns about it with Disney’s board while he was still CEO.
“It would have been one thing if he was neutral, but to be actually working against me, actively, I thought was just unbelievable,” Chapek said.
He also said his criticism isn’t personal. His issue, he explained, is with how Iger regained the job.
Iger has not answered most of this
Iger has not publicly responded to the bulk of Chapek’s allegations. Disney has not commented on the book.
Everything above is Chapek’s account of private conversations and board dynamics, told by someone who was fired and says he shouldn’t have been. It could be argued that it is one-sided.
However, earlier reports from interviews with those around the situation do seem to align with some of what he is saying.
Reporting on advance copies also notes that Chapek rejects personal responsibility for his ouster, pointing instead at Iger rather than at COVID, Wall Street pressure or Florida’s political fight.
Iger appears 121 times
One number captures the book’s shape.
Variety counted 121 mentions of Iger across the memoir.
Chapek has said publicly that the book is about his own 30-year story rather than Iger or a feud between them. The word count suggests otherwise.
A claim he admits he can’t prove
Chapek speculates about why Iger stepped down as CEO in early 2020, shortly before the pandemic hit.
“I have been told by several high-ranking people both in government and private business that, in their opinions, the real reason he left the company so abruptly was his anticipation of the arrival of COVID,” he writes.
Chapek presents this as other people’s opinions and offers no evidence for it. He then suggests Iger believed he could reclaim the CEO role whenever he chose.
That is an insinuation the author himself cannot support, and it should be read that way.
He takes credit for the current CEO
Chapek also claims a hand in Disney’s present leadership, writing that he repeatedly advocated for Josh D’Amaro.
D’Amaro succeeded Iger as Disney CEO in March 2026.
How the Bob swap actually went
Chapek joined Disney in 1993 and became CEO in February 2020, weeks before COVID closed the parks, halted cruises and shut down production. Iger stayed on as executive chairman.
In November 2022, the board removed Chapek before his contract expired and brought Iger back. Iger ran the company until D’Amaro took over this year.
Two more books are coming
Chapek’s is the first of three accounts landing in a single stretch.
The House of Mouse: Bob Iger and The War of Succession at Disney, by Wall Street Journal reporter Robbie Whelan, publishes Dec. 1. It is unauthorized, and Disney has reportedly retained outside counsel over it.
Iger is also said to be working on a second book of his own, following 2019’s The Ride of a Lifetime.
Three versions of the same decade, from the man who was fired, an outside reporter and the executive at the center. Today you get the first one.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Variety (Sept. 24, 2026), the advance copy takeaways, the 121 Iger mentions, the parks pricing passages and the book’s introduction
The New York Times (September 2026), the advance copy reporting on Chapek’s rejection of personal responsibility and the Iger allegations
CNBC (Sept. 28, 2026), the Squawk Box interview and Chapek’s comments on Iger reassuming control
Barrett Media (Sept. 28, 2026), the interview summary and the note that Iger has not addressed every allegation
Disney Tourist Blog (Sept. 17 and 25, 2026), the publication dates and the Robbie Whelan book context
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