With a clearer view of the situation, they’re now remorseful.
On Monday’s episode of “The View,” co-hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin, Ana Navarro, Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin said that they regret going down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton.
Griffin said she “forgot something fundamental” — that people can be “dealing with personal struggles we don’t know about.”
“I send my love to her and my strength to her,” she continued on the ABC panel. “I didn’t think about there’s something more serious here that she’s dealing with, and I feel awful over it.”
On Friday, Middleton, 42, announced that she has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment after doctors discovered the cancer during her planned abdominal surgery in January.
“My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment,” the mother of three revealed, insisting that she is “well and getting stronger every day.”
“This of course came as a huge shock, and [Prince] William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.”
“As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment,” she continued. “But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.”
Following her surgery, Middleton was out of the spotlight for nearly three months with little news from the palace.
Conspiracy theories about her whereabouts ran rampant on social media.
It didn’t help matters when Kensington Palace released a UK Mother’s Day photo of Middleton smiling with her children, but the photo was subsequently recalled by news agencies, which claimed the snapshot was “manipulated.”
“The View” hosts joined in on the spectacle of the bizarre news story at the time.
On the March 19 episode, the panel suspected that the video footage of Middleton visiting a farm shop near Windsor Castle must have been a body double.
“It’s grainy,” Griffin said at the time, referring to the video published by the Sun showing Middleton shopping with husband Prince William, 41.
“It’s like a Bigfoot sighting,” she added.
“That’s not her,” Hostin chimed in.
“That’s her body double. You know the royals have body doubles, y’all. If you really close in on that video — which I have done, I have done some internet sleuthing myself — it’s very clear that the profile is not Kate,” Hostin claimed. “And if she really did have that abdominal surgery, why is she carrying that big, heavy bag?”
Now that the news is out about Middleton’s cancer diagnosis, “The View” hosts are eating crow.
“I’ve always questioned the way the Palace handles women,” Haines said in Monday’s episode, mentioning Meghan Markle and Princess Diana as examples of royal mistreatment.
“The lesson I learned was when Whoopi Goldberg tells me to mind my own damn business, I’ll mind my own damn business from now on,” said Navarro, adding that Middleton asked for privacy.
“And this Nicaraguan is going to give it to her, shut my mouth and wish her well and pray for her,” she went on.
“I’m deeply remorseful that I allowed Sara Haines to drag me down the rabbit hole … I’m deeply remorseful that Alyssa also led me down the rabbit hole,” Hostin added. “I also have to take blame for that because I also didn’t listen to Whoopi Goldberg, who told me to stop and I didn’t, and so here I am.”
The ladies are just the latest to have a mea culpa about Middleton.
Blake Lively issued a statement Friday on her Instagram Story expressing regret over poking fun at the future queen’s Photoshop fail prior to the royal revealing her cancer diagnosis.
“I’m sure no one cares today but I feel like I have to acknowledge this,” Lively, 36, wrote hours after Kensington Palace released Middleton’s video announcement.
“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.”
This post was originally posted by NYPost
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