Celebrities who mocked Princess find themselves in the firing line
Blake Lively among those who had made fun of royal absence before cancer diagnosis was revealed
BLAKE LIVELY is one of several celebrities who have been upbraided for mocking the Princess of Wales in the weeks before she announced she had been diagnosed with cancer.
The American actress, 36, made a “Photoshop” jibe, alluding to the Princess’s absence from public life, when she launched her new drinks range earlier this month.
Lively posted an intentionally edited picture of herself to her 44.7 million Instagram followers, writing in the caption: “I’m so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our four new Betty Buzz and Betty Booze products! Now you know why I’ve been MIA.”
The Gossip Girl actress has since deleted the post and apologised for the “silly” joke, saying: “I’m sure no one cares today but I feel like I have to acknowledge this. 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 social media furore around the Princess’s whereabouts, well-being and domestic life reached a fever pitch following her release of a Mothering Sunday picture of herself and her three children, and her subsequent apology for editing it.
A few US celebrities weighed in with jokes including the social media star Kim Kardashian, who published a series of photos to her 364 million followers on Instagram with the caption: “On my way to find Kate.”
The post, which last night was still on her page, received an immediate backlash after the Princess announced in a personal video message on Friday that she has been undergoing preventative chemotherapy since late February.
“How do you feel now it’s been announced she has cancer?” one follower asked on Kardashian’s post, with another weighing in writing: “This didn’t age well. You never know what someone is battling.”
The Princess’s revelation sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes from around the world and has prompted a fierce outcry at some of the nasty conspiracy theories propagated during her absence from public life.
Yesterday, Jamie Lee Curtis, the actress, said: “Can we please just stop with this bull---t conspiracy theory? This is a human being with young children, and clearly some sort of health issue. That is a private matter. Do we not have better things to do and more important things to think about and be concerned about than this?”
On Friday, Rishi Sunak, said the Princess had been subjected to “intense scrutiny and unfairly treated by certain sections of the media around the world and on social media” as he called for her privacy to be respected.
Some TV hosts in the US have also come under fire for their involvement in spreading conspiracy theories on their shows, including John Oliver and Andy Cohen.
Meanwhile, TV presenters Davina McCall and Piers Morgan are among the British media figures who have called for the mother-of-three to be left alone amid her cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatment.