The View host Sunny Hostin has admitted that she feels ‘deeply remorseful’ for going down a ‘crazy rabbit hole’ of conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton following the Princess of Wales’s cancer diagnosis.
Last Friday, the 42-year-old royal put weeks of speculation to rest when she appeared in an unprecedented and emotional video message, in which she revealed the news had come as a ‘huge shock’ and confirmed she was undergoing ‘preventative’ chemotherapy.
During Monday’s episode of The View, a snippet of the video played as Sunny, 55, shared that she should have listened to her cohost, Whoopi Goldberg – who slammed the panel for ‘buying into’ the conspiracy theories on the ABC daytime show last week.
Alyssa Farah Griffin said she felt ‘awful’ about speculating and claimed ‘Whoopi was right,’ while Sara Haines described Kate’s news as ‘heart-wrenching’ but admitted that she had ‘always questioned the way the royal family handles women.’
Sunny Hostin has admitted that she feels ‘deeply remorseful’ for going down a ‘crazy rabbit hole’ of conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton
Sara Haines (left) described Kate’s cancer diagnosis as ‘heart-wrenching,’ while Alyssa Farah Griffin said she felt ‘awful’ about speculating
Sitting on a bench at Windsor last week, the Princess of Wales revealed to the world that she had cancer in an unprecedented video
When Whoopi, 68, asked the panel what their responses were upon watching the video of the royal, Alyssa, 34, 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.’
Alyssa continued: ‘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.’
Sara, 46, jumped in and added: ‘That diagnosis is just heart-wrenching. 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.
‘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?”‘
She then turned to Alyssa and continued: ‘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….’
Whoopi Goldberg had furiously defended Kate and the royal family on The View last week
Ana Navarro (left) and Sunny both admitted that they had fallen ‘down the rabbit hole’
At points the future queen was highly emotional as she spoke of her illness and her family and telling her children she will ‘be ok’
‘I was not blaming Kate for what was going on. It really bothered me the way it was handled, whether it should have been my business or not could be debated, but I do hope now just for a speedy recovery, and she reassured everyone she’s getting the best care and I know that it’s so important for her kids to hear that she’s in good hands.’
Mother-of-two Sunny then decided to speak up and joked, ‘I’m deeply remorseful that I allowed Sara Haines to drag me down the rabbit hole,’ to which Sara quickly fired back: ‘People, I have receipts, we have text chains, you can actually see who led who.’
‘I think I might have led so, sorry guys!’ Alyssa giggled, as Sunny continued: ‘I’m deeply remorseful that Alyssa also led me down the rabbit hole because I generally don’t care that much about the royals.
‘I was very invested in how Meghan Markle says she was treated and that it almost drove her to death by suicide, so that’s one part of the family dynamic that I was pretty interested in and reading about it and I saw the interview that Prince Harry and Meghan had with Oprah, but other than that, I’ve never really cared that much.’
When her co-host Ana Navarro butted in and reminded Sunny that she even had her husband, Emmanuel, studying recent photographs of Kate Middleton, the lawyer responded: ‘Because I went down this crazy rabbit hole, thank to my cohosts, and to myself… I have to take blame for that because I also didn’t listen to Whoopi Goldberg who told me to “stop” and I didn’t, and so here I am.’
Ana, 52, then said: ‘For me, it was a learning moment, a teachable moment, and the lesson I learned was: when Whoopi Gold tells me to mind my own damn business, I will mind my own damn business from now on!
‘I barely ever know what’s going on in pop culture, so it was very strange for me to fall down this rabbit hole, but it was everywhere, right? There was an international frenzy, you couldn’t avoid it, it was everywhere.
‘We had a family chat going on it, but I think to myself, part of the reason that happened as well is because I think she’s well loved, and well respected and valued and treasured in England.
Ana Navarro admitted that it had been a ‘learning moment’ for her and said she’s going to ‘pray’ for Kate
Mother-of-two Sunny also admitted that she ‘never really cared that much’ for the royal family
‘But I think we all like her because she’s like a bright spot in what has been a very dysfunctional royal family for decades and decades.
‘She just looks like such a great wife and mom, I feel like we all know her. So, she asked for privacy [and] this Nicaraguan is going to give it to her, I’m going to shut my mouth about her and just wish her well, pray for her and hope that she and her family get through this process.’
Ana added: ‘Several of us on this panel have had a cancer diagnosis in our family and we know it shakes you to the core, it is scary as can be and it takes a lot of time to process it, digest it and I can even imagine how much more difficult it is to have to explain it to little children.’
When Sunny asked Whoopi if she wanted to say, “I told you so,” the Sister Act star confirmed she did not – but did go on to explain why she had defended Kate and the royal family on the show last week.
‘As I said, once you have had this experience, it can scar you. It can scar you because once those things begin to happen, everybody jumps on board and there’s no way to stop it,’ the Oscar winner said.
‘People don’t want to hear the truth. They know they’re on their thing and so I always think about the kids, because the kids… they’re hearing it from outside, they’re hearing it at school – even their kids.’
Whoopi explained that she didn’t want viewers to think that the rest of the panel were ‘making fun’ of Kate
The View panel discussed Kate’s shock cancer diagnosis and the recent conspiracy theories
‘We should have listened to you and we didn’t,’ Sunny said, to which Whoopi replied: ‘Well, maybe you will next time,’ before joking: ‘I don’t put any money on it.’
‘If I think that there is an edge, I’ll always say, “listen, please think about this,” because what you don’t know is what we say here, doesn’t stay here. It goes across the pond, it goes on the internet, and people – as you know – manipulate stuff, they manipulate what you say.’
Whoopi continued: ‘I don’t want people to misunderstand you all, I don’t want them thinking that you’re making fun of somebody because they’re ill, because that’s what folks will say.
‘But that was never the intention, and so I always hope if I hear something that I can help make us better.’
The panel ended their discussion on a light note as Sara joked: ‘Captain, continue to right this ship!’ as Alyssa chimed: ‘Sorry, we nearly sunk it!’
Sunny added: ‘Because we went far off course on that one!’
