After Princess Kate Middleton revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer, several celebrities were forced to offer their mea culpas.
Kate announced her cancer diagnosis in an emotional video on March 22, ending weeks of speculation about her whereabouts and well-being.
Among those questioning the princess’ condition were some household names Stateside, who were forced to use their platforms to apologize for buying into rampant conspiracy theories.
Between questioning whether Prince William was having an affair and wondering if Kate was using a body double, late-night hosts, daytime talk-show panels and A-list movie stars all returned with their tails between their legs.
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For a full breakdown of the celebrities who offered their regret to Kate and her family, keep reading:
Stephen Colbert
The host took direct aim at rumors about William’s alleged infidelity on the March 12 episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
“I’m afraid I’ve got some troubling news about England’s royal family,” he said. “Internet sleuths are guessing that Kate’s absence may be related to her husband, and the future king of England, William, having an affair.”
Colbert then named Rose Hanbury as the alleged “other woman,” which was an internet theory that had picked up steam after The Independent posted a story about Hanbury on March 10.
“Now there have been rumors of an affair between William and [Rose] since 2019,” Colbert continued. “According to tabloids, back then, when Kate supposedly confronted him about it, he ‘laughed it off, saying there was nothing to it.’ Aha, always a good response when your wife accuses you of cheating.”
However, after Kate announced her cancer diagnosis, Colbert took to the airwaves to apologize.
“There’s a standard that I try to hold myself to, and that is I do not make light of somebody else’s tragedy,” he said on March 25’s episode of The Late Show. “Far too many of us know that any cancer diagnosis of any kind is harrowing for the patient and for their family.”
He added, “Though I’m sure they don’t need it from me, I and everyone here at The Late Show, would like to extend our well-wishes and heartfelt hope that her recovery is swift and thorough.”
The speculation didn’t sit well with Hanbury, either, who served Colbert with a legal notice after he made the quip about the alleged affair. However, attorney Neama Rahmani exclusively told Us Weekly that because Colbert didn’t state the rumors as fact, she likely doesn’t have a good defamation case.
Blake Lively
The sleuthing and speculation about Kate even caught the attention of Hollywood heavyweights like Lively.
Lively took a slight jab at the photoshop controversy surrounding Kate — in which the princess posted an altered Mother’s Day photo of her and her three children, which Kate later took responsibility for — in a post via her Instagram Story on March 15.
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To promote her Betty Buzz mocktail line, Lively posted a photo of her head on the body of an older woman captioned: “I’m so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz & @bettybooze products. Now you know why I’ve been MIA.”
After Kate announced she had cancer, Lively immediately returned to social media to amend things.
“I’m sure no one cares today, but I feel like I have to acknowledge this,” the actress wrote in an Instagram Story on March 22. “I made a silly post around the ‘photoshop fails’ frenzy, and oh man, that post has me mortified today. I’m sorry. Sending love and well wishes to all, always.”
The View
Kate became a regular feature on The View’s “Hot Topics” segment as speculation about her reached a fever pitch.
Cohost Sunny Hostin was the most passionate on the panel, suggesting that Kate was using a “body double,” with cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin pleading with Buckingham Palace to release an actual video of Kate, comparing one of her alleged outings to a “Bigfoot sighting.”
Despite moderator Whoopi Goldberg’s insistence that they shouldn’t be “buying into” conspiracy theories, the women refused to stop.
Until Kate announced her diagnosis, that is.
“I felt awful. Whoopi was right,” Farah Griffin said on the March 25 episode of The View. “I’m guilty of having gotten into the fun of where’s Kate and thinking it’s funny and sharing the memes and playing into that.”
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Cohost Ana Navarro said, “For me, it was a learning moment, a teachable moment. The lesson I learned was: when Whoopi Goldberg tells me to mind my own damn business, I will mind my own damn business from now on.”
Hostin jokingly attempted to blame Farah Griffin and cohost Sara Haines for sending her down the “rabbit hole,” but eventually offered her own apology.
“I also have to take blame for that because I also didn’t listen to Whoopi Goldberg, who told me to stop,” Hostin said. “And I didn’t. And so here I am.”
Sheryl Underwood
On daytime chat show The Talk, cohost Underwood also admitted wrongdoing, saying she “felt ashamed” for contributing to the conversation surrounding Kate.
“I want to apologize to Princess Kate personally on my behalf,” Underwood said on the March 25 episode of The Talk. “I want her to forgive me, because I am ashamed of myself and I’m a grown woman, and I should have had a little bit more discretion.”
Meghan King
The former Real Housewives of Orange County star took extreme lengths in order to solve the Kate mystery, hiring some outside mystical muscle to get to the bottom of everything.
“I have a Kate update for you,” King said via her Instagram Story on March 20. “I know none of you would put this past me, but I got a psychic to really dig into this because no one really knows anything at all. It’s all conspiracy theory and what I’m about to tell you is for entertainment purposes only. I don’t know what I’m talking about. I talked to my psychic and she had a lot to say.”
According to the psychic procured by King, “there was more to” to the story being offered by Kate and the palace.
“As she’s in the hospital going through the scheduled surgery and then something went wrong,” King said, via the psychic.
The most audacious claim by the psychic, however, came when King said Kate might be having an “emotional affair probably” with an unidentified man.
Once the real news about Kate broke, King was forced to admit she received some bad information.
“I saw all the news about Kate Middleton, and it’s so horrible. I mean, I’m the same age as her so it really hits home and just sending prayers and good vibes her way,” King shared in an Instagram Story on March 22. “I feel really bad that I participated in the speculation about extramarital stuff, which, I mean, it still could be the case but it’s not at the forefront here.”
