Taya Kyle Withheld 'American Sniper' Proceeds from Bereaved Families; Chris Kyle Told His Business Partners That There was Discord in His Marriage and He Believed Divorce was a Very Real Possibility

Chris Kyle talked with a reporter from the Texan News Service, a student run paper at Tarleton State University, on January 28, 2013, five days before he was murdered. Click the link and go to the 7-minute mark to hear Kyle evading the question about how many books he's sold and repeating his claim that all the money he's gotten from the book has been given to the families of veterans. Kent Studebaker, Taya Kyle's father, confirmed Kyle had received a $100,000 advance for “American Sniper” (written in 2011-2012) and an additional $700,000 sometime after that, but wouldn't elaborate on the total paid out to him in royalties before his death.

'American Sniper': Chris Kyle's Widow at Center of Quiet Furor Over Profits

February 18, 2015

The Hollywood Reporter - When he was alive, Chris Kyle told friends and business associates that he viewed any profits from his memoir American Sniper as “blood money.” The legendary Navy SEAL, whose account of his four tours of duty in Iraq was adapted into the Clint Eastwood movie that is now up for six Oscars including best picture, maintained that he wanted the money to go to support struggling military families. After Kyle and a friend were shot and killed in 2013 by a veteran Kyle was helping, The New York Times retold this widely known point of view: “Though his book became a best-seller, he never collected money from it, friends said, donating the proceeds to the families of two friends and fallen SEAL members, Ryan Job and Marc Lee.”

Yet today, with more than $6 million banked from the American Sniper franchise (boosted by the sale of more than 2 million books) and millions more on the way as the Warner Bros. film nears $400 million worldwide, a quiet dispute festers over who is entitled to that windfall. At the center of the discord is Kyle’s widow, Taya, 40, who is alleged to have ignored her late husband’s wishes and withheld money from the bereaved families he publicly had promised to support.