Stephen Colbert, Catherine, Princess of Wales , Whoopi Goldberg. Getty Images (3)
Celebrities can’t stop weighing in on the Kate Middleton of it all.
The internet has completely lost the plot in the wake of the Princess of Wales’ surgery and months-long absence from the public eye, and now a few notable names have shared their biggest conspiracies about what’s really going down with the royal family.
Kensington Palace announced on January 16 that Kate underwent a “planned” abdominal procedure at The London Clinic. While the “surgery was successful,” the palace’s statement revealed that Kate wouldn’t be returning to public-facing duties until Easter.
Social media was abuzz with theories about Kate’s health — and then the photo debacle(s) happened. First, TMZ published a grainy photo of Kate on March 4 sitting in the passenger seat of a car alongside her mother, Carole Middleton. Then, Kate shared her U.K.’s Mother’s Day photo on social media, which created some major headlines.
The British royal family may appear prim and proper to the public, but they’ve faced their fair share of controversies over the years. One of the biggest royal scandals in recent memory came when King Charles III and the late Princess Diana announced their separation in 1992 after 10 years of marriage. At the time, […]
On March 10, Kate uploaded a family photo — which Prince William snapped — of her alongside children Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5. Some internet users immediately started to speculate that the image had been digitally altered, and some major news outlets, including the Associated Press, retracted the photo.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” Kate wrote in a social media statement the following day, addressing the controversy. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion.”
While Kate has since been spotted out again — she and William were photographed in the backseat of a car on March 11 — royal family watchers have continued to raise questions about the princess’ whereabouts, and now, celebrities have too.
Scroll to see which stars have weighed in on the Princess of Wales’ ongoing controversy:
John Oliver
The Last Week Tonight With John Oliver host weighed in on the controversy during a March 12 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on March 12.
“I was out. I thought, ‘Let’s all just ignore this we’ve moved on,’ until the photoshop thing,” Oliver said. “That feels, like, you’re almost handling badly in an impressive way at this point.”
Andy Cohen replied, asking: “Isn’t their motto, ‘Never complain never explain?’ And then they have her explaining on Twitter?”
Oliver hit back with a conspiracy of his own.
“There is a non-zero chance she died 18 months ago,” he speculated. “They might be Weekend at Bernie’s-ing this situation. I’m not saying it happened, but I’m saying it’s non-zero until proven otherwise. Until we see her sitting there with a copy of the day’s paper.”
Stephen Colbert
Colbert made some wild statements during The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on March 12 with “some troubling news” about the royal family.
“Internet sleuths are guessing that Kate’s absence may be related to her husband, and the future King of England, William, having an affair,” the television host said, adding that his “heart goes out to poor Kate.”
Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton’s relationship hasn’t always been a fairy tale due to family drama, speculative rumors and more. William and Kate met in 2001 when they were both students at the University of St Andrews. Despite a brief breakup six years later, William and Kate reconciled before getting engaged in 2010. They […]
Colbert went on to say he’s “ready to spill the tea, literally,” drinking out of a tea cup.
“I think we all know who the alleged other woman is, say it with me, The Marchioness of Cholmondeley,” he continued, referencing Sarah Rose Hanbury. “Now there have been rumors of an affair between William and [Rose] since 2019. 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.”
While cheating rumors have been swirling since 2019, Kensington Palace never commented on the situation.
Whoopi Goldberg
Goldberg was quick to chastise her The View cohosts on March 13, when they started sharing theories about Kate. “It’s our fault, because we bought into this,” she started.
“When you buy into this stuff, when they start doing it to your family or they start doing it to your kids, it’s not cute,” she continued. “It’s not fun. It really irritates me.”
Goldberg addressed the photo-editing controversy head on.
“I think Kate took a picture and said, ‘Ooh, his lips look wrong, her butt looks wrong, this looks wrong, let me fix it,’” she added. “I believe that she took the picture and gave it to [the Palace] because she wanted to take charge of the story that’s being put out.”
Goldberg concluded: “This is all speculation and we’re having fun. Just know that we know that we don’t know.”
Princess Kate Middleton’s family were thrust into the spotlight following her 2011 nuptials to Prince William. The Princess of Wales’ parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, her sister, Pippa Middleton, and her brother, James Middleton, were among many guests at the royal wedding. Pippa, for her part, called the attention surrounding her role as maid of […]
Sara Haines
Fellow The View host disagreed with Goldberg.
“The frenzy in the media has been dangerous for their family, and they should come out with a video to say, ‘Hey, I’m OK.’ That’s all I need,” she added.
Alyssa Farah Griffin
Another View cohost Farah Griffin tried to explain why “we care about” Kate so much.
“Not to make it heavy, but we know the treatment around [Princess] Diana. We know what Meghan Markle and Prince Harry went through,” she said. “Now you have a Princess, a Queen in waiting, that hasn’t been seen and the stories just don’t pan out. She could resolve this, the Palace could, in two minutes by putting her direct to camera.”
