The View co-hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin, Ana Navarro, Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin did public penance today for their recent “rabbit hole” speculation about Kate Middleton, saying they regret indulging in silly conspiracy theories that were rampant prior to the princess’ announcement Friday that she has cancer.
And all three said they regret not taking the advice of View moderator Whoopi Goldberg to, as Navarro said today, “mind my own damn business.”
The three co-hosts spent considerable airtime last week playfully discussing the mystery of Middleton’s whereabouts, as well as the meanings and motives behind the recent photoshopped Royal Family photo.
Only Goldberg refused to indulge in the speculation, repeatedly advising her co-hosts to stop the theorizing, insisting that even Royals deserve privacy.
Today, Griffin said she “forgot something fundamental,” that people can be “dealing with personal struggles we don’t know about. I send my love to her and my strength to her.”
“I didn’t think about there’s something more serious here that she’s dealing with, and I feel awful over it,” Griffin said.
Haines wasn’t quite so adamant in her regrets, saying her interest in the matter was more about the Palace’s release of the altered photo. “I’ve always questioned the way the Palace handles women,” she said, mentioning Meghan Markle and Princess Diana as examples of royal mistreatment.
Navarro weighed in, calling the incident a “learning moment”: “The lesson I learned was when Whoopi Goldberg tells me to mind my own damn business I’ll mind my own damn business from now on.” Navarro also said Middleton “asked for privacy and this Nicaraguan is going to give it to her, shut my mouth and wish her well and pray for her.”
Hostin lightened the mood a bit, saying, when her turn came, “I’m deeply remorseful that I allowed Sara Haines to drag me down the rabbit hole….I’m deeply remorseful that Alysa also led me down the rabbit hole.”
She then said, “I also 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.”
Goldberg finished the Hot Topics discussion, saying she would not say “I told you so” but noted, “Once you’ve had this experience, it can scar you. Because once those things begin to happen, everyone jumps on board and there’s no way to stop it.”
“I always think about the kids,” she continued, “because the kids are hearing it outside, at school. Yes even their kids.” The moderator then said she tried to halt last week’s speculation from her co-hosts “because I don’t want people to misunderstand you all, I don’t what them thinking you’re making fun of somebody because they’re ill.”
Goldberg then cracked that maybe the next time her co-hosts would listen to her. “But I don’t put any money on it.”
Watch the segment here: