US actress Blake Lively has apologised after fans slammed her for a joke she made last week about the UK's Princess of Wales, before her shock cancer diagnosis was revealed.
Lively was promoting her RTD liquor brand Betty Buzz while poking fun at the Princess of Wales about the controversy over the editing of a family photo of Princess Kate with her three children.
"I'm so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz & @bettybooze products! Now you know why I've been MIA," Lively, 36, wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post last Wednesday.
On Saturday morning (NZ time), Princess Kate revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer and she had begun preventative chemotherapy in an emotional 2-minute video message.
She had been out of the public limelight for nearly two months since undergoing major abdominal surgery.
She said the diagnosis came as a "huge shock" and that it had "taken us time" to explain what it means to her children.
Lively was berated by fans after the news broke of Princess Kate's diagnosis, but she was quick to apologise.
"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. I'm sorry," she wrote on Instagram.
"Sending love and well wishes to all, always," the post ended.
Fans hit back, accusing her of hypocrisy for keeping her own children's names a secret while "mocking" Kate for wanting privacy.
Other celebrities took aim at Princess Kate's time out of the spotlight, including Kim Kardashian, John Oliver, and Andy Cohen.
Kardashian posted on Instagram she was "on my way to go find Kate" just days before the diagnosis news. The post has since attracted criticism from fans.
"This didn't age well," one user commented, while another called her a "snake".
"Now she's confirmed she has cancer, are you going to take this down? So distasteful," a third wrote.
