Whoopi Goldberg recently refused to partake in conspiracy theories surrounding Kate Middleton on her US show The View before the Princess announced her cancer diagnosis.
Now that the Princess of Wales has confirmed her illness, Goldberg’s co-star Sunny Hostin has admitted to being “deeply remorseful” for delving into the bizarre conspiracy theories.
Hostin, 55, confessed to having gone down a “crazy rabbit hole” of theories surrounding Kate before she addressed the nation on Friday to announce her cancer diagnosis.
Last week, the royal divulged the news about her health after months of wild speculation about her whereabouts and welfare circulated on social media.
She revealed the news had come as a “huge shock” and explained she is undergoing treatment.
On Monday’s episode of The View, Hostin admitted she should have listened to Goldberg, who blasted her co-hosts for enabling the theories.
Hostin and her co-stars admitted they regretted their actions during the Kate Middleton conspiracies
ABC
Alyssa Farah Griffin also said she felt “awful” for feeding into the speculation and agreed: “Whoopi was right.”
Sara Haines went on to describe Kate's announcement as “heart-wrenching,” but added she has “always questioned the way the Royal Family handles women.”
Whoopi, 68, asked the panel for their reactions to the princess’ video message, to which Farah Griffin replied: “I’m guilty of having gotten into the fun of ‘Where's Kate?’ and sort of thinking it's funny and sharing the memes and playing into that.
“I forgot something fundamental, that we all know, which is every person, whether they're a princess, somebody in a high-privileged position, or just the person next to you, is dealing with personal struggles that we don't know about.”
The Princess addressed the nation on Friday to reveal her cancer diagnosis
Kensington PalaceShe added: “I send my love to her and strength to her because, sure, the palace totally mishandled the PR of this, but the public mishandled it.
“We didn't give her an ounce - not we, you did, a lot of other people did, but I didn't think, ‘There's something more serious here that she's dealing with,’ and I feel awful over it.
“And it's just a reminder because all of us, being to a lesser degree but in the public eye, we see the cruelty and casual meanness and as a society, we're so quick to jump to that and join the bandwagon and think it's fun and forget these are actual human beings who are going through something.”
“That diagnosis is just heart-wrenching,” Haines added. “I was sitting with my best friend - who had breast cancer in her 30s and has a young daughter - and to watch her relive her own moment was tragic.
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The View panellists discussed Kate's 'heart wrenching' message
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“When the conspiracy theories first started, I was like, ‘we shouldn't bother.’
“The part that got me was the way the palace handled it because when they released that photo and then they had to issue a kill because it wasn't reliable, and then another source, that did get me thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what the heck is wrong here?’”
Speaking to Farah Griffin, she added: “But I think you speak to the most important part which is you just never know what someone's going through.
“I've always questioned the way the royal family handles women because whether it was Princess Diana or Fergie or Meghan Markle.”