After Kate Middleton apologized for her photo editing scandal, The View’s Whoopi Goldberg defended the Princess of Wales with her own take on social media images.
Whoopi Goldberg isn’t putting a filter on her Photoshop perspective.
Amid the ongoing drama surrounding Kate Middleton‘s Mother’s Day social media post, which resulted in her issuing an apology over a photo many news outlets pulled due to its suspected manipulation, The View moderator gave her two cents on the photo editing debacle.
“I’m sorry, I know very few people who don’t manipulate their own photos,” she told her cohosts during a March 11 episode of the talk show. “I mean all you gotta do is swipe—none of those people look like those people look.”
And while some of her fellow panelists, including Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin, argued that the “future queen” wouldn’t take and subsequently edit her own photos, Whoopi doubled down.
“She may be the future queen,” the 68-year-old countered. “But she’s still an amateur photographer, that’s what they do.”
On March 10, the Princess of Wales, who has been absent from the public eye while recovering from January abdominal surgery posted a photo of herself with her and Prince William‘s kids Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, in honor of U.K.’s Mother’s Day.
However, the photo raised eyebrows over its seemingly photoshopped appearance and prominent publications, including the Associated Press and Reuters, later issued a “kill notice” for not meeting the outlets’ editorial standards.
“Kensington Palace had issued the image Sunday as speculation swirled on social media about the whereabouts of the oft-photographed princess who hadn’t been seen in public since December,” the AP said in a statement. “Close study of the image revealed inconsistencies that suggested it had been altered, for instance in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand with the sleeve of her sweater.”
Following the debate that sparked surrounding the AP‘s statement, Kate issued a follow-up post taking responsibility for the photo’s irregularities.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” the 42-year-old wrote on X, formerly Twitter, March 11. “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.”
As Kate continues to recuperate—Kensington Palace stated that the princess would not return to royal duty until after Easter–the royal family appears to be returning to business as usual. In fact, William was seen attending Commonwealth Day celebrations with Queen Camilla on March 11 at Westminster Abbey.
Despite the royal family seemingly attempting to move past the controversy, royal expert Omid Scobie shared why he believes it exemplifies how they are losing public trust.
“With the Palace’s long history of lying, covering up, and even issuing statements on behalf of family members without their permission (cc: Prince Harry),” he wrote on X March 11.”It’s becoming increasingly difficult for the public to believe a word (and now photo) they share.”
Read on for more news about the royals.