Following Kate Middleton’s announcement on March 22 that she was diagnosed with cancer, Blake Lively has deleted an Instagram post which poked fun at the Princess of Wales’s absence from the public eye following her abdominal surgery as well as her photoshop incident earlier this month.
On March 16, Lively shared an ad for Betty Buzz, her canned seltzer brand, which featured an obviously edited crop of the actor against a pool backdrop. “I’m so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz & @bettybooze products,” Lively wrote in the caption, nodding to the conspiracy theories about Middleton’s whereabouts and her lack of public appearances. “Now you know why I’ve been MIA.”
The Betty Buzz account replied to the post, writing “haters will say it’s photoshop”—a reference to Kate Middleton’s own photoshop scandal the week prior. ICYMI: The princess shared a photo of herself with her children on March 10, the UK’s Mother’s Day, which was then distributed to the wires. However, several photo agencies issued a kill notice for the image shortly thereafter over “manipulation concerns.” A day later, on March 11, Middleton claimed responsibility in a statement for her “amateur photo editing” skills.
After she deleted her post, Lively shared on her Instagram Story that she was “mortified” by her post in light of Middleton’s diagnosis.
“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,” Blake Lively wrote. “I’m sorry.”
She added, “Sending love and well wishes to all, always” along with a heart emoji.
Lively was one of several celebrities to poke fun at the rumors around the princess’s “disappearance” from the public eye. Kim Kardashian also shared a carousel of photos of herself with the caption, “On my way to find Kate.” Several followers called out Kardashian for poor taste, however, as of press time, Kardashian’s post is still live.
Andy Cohen, John Oliver, and Stephen Colbert also used the princess as a punchline earlier this week. We can only assume their apologies are forthcoming.
This article originally appeared on GLAMOUR US.