Blake Lively is the latest person to weigh in on the controversy surrounding Kate Middleton.
In the latest Instagram post promoting her beverage brand Betty Buzz, the 36-year-old Gossip Girl star appears to be trolling the Princess of Wales with a heavily Photoshopped image. However, the joke has not gone down well with fans who have slammed Blake for “bullying” Kate, who is recovering from surgery.
The 42-year-old Princess found herself at the center of a Photoshop scandal earlier this week after news agencies pulled her Mother’s Day family snap, saying it had been “manipulated”. Kate has taken a step back from royal duties since January when she underwent planned abdominal surgery and since retreating from public life her health has become the subject of increasing online speculation.
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Blake’s blatantly altered photo, in which her head is clearly Photoshopped on another woman’s body and her thumb is significantly larger than it should be, was posted on Instagram on Friday. In the caption, she wrote: “I'm so excited to share this new photo I just took today.” Apparently poking fun at rumors over Kate’s whereabouts, the star added: “Now you know why I've been MIA”.
But The Shallows star’s joke has fallen flat with fans, with many expressing their “disappointment” over the insensitive post. One commented: “Very disappointing. Women should support each other”, while another added: “Love you Lively but this is mean.”
A third fan called Blake out for her “cheap marketing” strategy. In a comment that garnered over 250 likes, they wrote: “Cheap marketing mocking a woman that is recovering from surgery.”
Another said that as a “mother” herself, Blake, who shares four kids with her husband Ryan Reynolds, should know better. They wrote: “Pretty low from you to poke fun at another woman and another mother.”
In response to the ridicule surrounding the royal Mother’s Day post, Kate was forced to apologize for the confusion caused. Writing on The Prince and Princess of Wales's Twitter account on Monday, she confessed: "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."