Blake Lively has expressed regret for her royal blunder.
The actress apologized on social media on Friday for making fun of the Princess of Wales’ recent photo-editing error after learning of her cancer diagnosis.
“I’m sure no one cares today, but I feel like I have to acknowledge this,” Lively wrote in her Instagram stories. “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.”
After the Mother’s Day photo of Middleton with her three kids was removed from photo agencies due to allegations that it had been manipulated, Lively appeared to be trolling the 42-year-old Princess of Wales last week.
“I’m so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz & @bettybooze products!” the Instagram photo appeared to be digitally manipulated. Lively concluded, “Now you know why I’ve been MIA.”
Amid the controversy about a Photoshopped image of Catherine and her three children that Kensington Palace released on Mother’s Day in the UK, Lively was alluding to a since-deleted post that she had posted as part of a viral trend spotlighting clearly altered images.
I’ve never been much of a conspiracy theorist but if @AP @AFP @Reuters & other picture agencies are concerned enough to remove it and ask clients to delete it, there are serious questions for Kensington Palace – which was the source of the photo.
These appears to be the issues 👇 https://t.co/ifcSB9mUzu pic.twitter.com/bH5gN9fJtJ— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 10, 2024
Middleton issued an apology and provided an untrustworthy justification on (X) Twitter, stating that, like many others, she occasionally enjoys photo editing:
Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 11, 2024
Lively was among the many onlookers who quickly joined in by posting their own, far more manipulated photos in addition to Catherine’s apology.