March 25, 2024 • 27 mins
Catherine, Princess of Wales has announced that she has cancer, and the public has been accused of harassing her over the past few weeks. But who is really to blame here? SHOW NOTES: CBS News Analysis Associated Press Photo Editing Breakdown Kate Middleton Cancer Announcement
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Episode Transcript
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Cassy (00:07):
Hi, and welcome to the south central PA mom, Fireflies and Whoopee Pie podcast, where
we discuss motherhood, local events, andeverything in between right here in south
central, Pa.
So sit back, grab a coffee a while, and settle
in for the show.
You.
(00:28):
Hi, everyone.
Welcome back to another episode.
Today we are going to be talking aboutPrincess Catherine and her cancer diagnosis
and the role that Kensington palace has playedin this.
So in case you aren't familiar, we have KateMiddleton, who is married to Prince William of
the british royal family, the same person thatwe all from the 90s had pictures on our walls
(00:50):
of from every teen magazine.
In January.
Earlier this year, just to give a quickrundown of what happened, Kate made an
announcement that she was going to be taking astep back from her royal duties because she
had a planned abdominal surgery and that shewould be out of the public eye until April.
(01:12):
Until around Easter, basically.
So for whatever reason, people noticed that
she hasn't been seen in a long time.
This should have been expected because of the
statement that was given at the beginning ofthe year that she was recovering from surgery.
But for whatever reason, people on Twitter,I'm sorry, it's x, formerly known as Twitter,
(01:39):
they started talking about her being missing,and it became this funny kind of joke where
people were making memes, and then it turnedinto, well, you know, where is Kate?
Why haven't we seen Kate?Why is Kate not in the public eye?
And it didn't seem to matter that there wasthis announcement that had already been given
(02:01):
saying that she was not going to be in thepublic doing her public duties until Easter.
So that became this big controversy.
Kate's missing.
Why isn't anyone seeing Kate?Is Kate okay?
Is Kate safe?And here's where things went badly.
(02:22):
The short version of this is that on Mother'sDay, the British Mother's Day, which is not in
may, but was just in March, March 10, apicture of Kate with her children, she's got
three children, was released, and almostimmediately, a kill notice was put out by tons
(02:45):
of international news agencies saying, thisimage has been manipulated and doctored.
Not long after that, a statement was released,allegedly written by Kate herself, saying, oh,
I'm so sorry.
I like to play around with editing software
just like anyone else.
He he so sorry.
(03:07):
And that, of course, only made it worse.
Not long after that, there was more
speculation going around about Kate and theold rumors about William and Rose Hanley, who
is the marchness of Chumsley, began to scurryaround again.
(03:29):
So we had this little grainy picture video ofKate and William at a farmer's market like,
oh, look how happy and healthy they are.
And then finally we get the announcement that
Kate Middleton has cancer.
And that is why she has not been in the public
eye.
So there's a lot to dive into with this.
And the first thing is that I think that asmothers, we all can empathize, right.
(03:53):
Because the only thing worse as a mom thanseeing one of your kids fight cancer is you
being the one to do it.
And then this unlocks this fear.
Not so much.
Oh, I'm going to die.
And that makes me upset, but it's, I'm goingto die and that's going to traumatize my
(04:16):
children.
Right.
You don't so much worry about your own deathas it is.
How is it going to affect my know, my kids aregoing to be without their mother.
I'm never going to get to see them grow up.
I'm not going to get to see them get married
and graduate from high school and have theirown babies.
And that is something that Kate is very muchin the middle of right now.
(04:36):
Her oldest is George and he's only eleven.
Not even eleven.
He'll be eleven in July.
Charlote is about to be nine and then Lewis is
about to be six.
I mean, these are little kids and they're
still babies and their mom is.
She's sick.
(04:57):
She might not know.
Well, let's backtrack that a little bit.
I shouldn't say she might not survive.
I guess anything is possible.
But from all indications, given what Kateherself has said, her cancer was caught early
and there's every likelihood that she's goingto make a full recovery and will be fine.
(05:23):
So essentially what happened is she, in herstatement, talked about how she had undergone
abdominal surgery, as had been mentioned inJanuary, and that was the point where this
(05:43):
diagnosis was discovered.
So we can play that video for you really
quick.
Kate Middleton (05:50):
I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you personally for
all the wonderful messages of support and foryour understanding whilst I've been recovering
from surgery.
It has been an incredibly tough couple of
months for our entire family.
But I've had a fantastic medical team who have
taken great care of me for which I'm sograteful.
(06:12):
In January, I underwent major abdominalsurgery in London and at the time it was
thought that my condition was non cancerous.
The surgery was successful.
However, tests after the operation and cancerhad been present.
My medical team therefore advised that Ishould undergo a course of preventative
chemotherapy.
(06:33):
And I'm now in the early stages of that
treatment.
This, of course, came as a huge shock, and
William and I have been doing everything wecan to process and manage this privately for
the sake of our young family.
As you can imagine, this has taken time.
It has taken me time to recover from majorsurgery in order to start my treatment.
(06:55):
But most importantly, it has taken us time toexplain everything to George, Charlote, and
Louis in a way that's appropriate for them andto reassure them that I'm going to be okay.
As I've said to them, I am well and gettingstronger every day by focusing on the things
that will help me heal in my mind, body, andspirits.
(07:16):
Having William by my side is a great source ofcomfort and reassurance, too, as is the love,
support, and kindness that has been shown byso many of you.
It means so much trust, place.
We hope that you'll understand that as a
family, we now need some time, space, andprivacy while I complete my treatment.
(07:39):
My work has always brought me a deep sense ofjoy, and I look forward to being back when I'm
able.
But for now, I must focus on making a full
recovery.
At this time, I'm also thinking of all those
whose lives have been affected by cancer.
For everyone facing this disease, in whatever
form, please do not lose faith or hope.
(08:02):
You are not alone.
Cassy (08:05):
So I will make sure to include that in the show notes, in case you have not seen it
for yourself.
But I think it's important to note there that
she did stay calm, but she looked tired, asanyone who is undergoing chemotherapy would.
And she looked emotional, especially theretowards the end.
(08:28):
And that's, again, I think, is mom somethingthat we all can empathize with?
And it just kind of breaks your heartthinking, yes, she's a princess.
Even before she was a princess, she was anaristocrat.
Well, she was an aristocrat in how britishpeople would think of it.
(08:49):
But to us Americans, she was born in this verywealthy family, and now she's a princess, and
she's got tons of money, and she leads a charmto life.
But at the same time, she's a mom.
She's a woman just like us.
She's 42, and she's got babies, and here sheis fighting cancer.
(09:12):
And it's the last thing that any of us expectwill happen.
No one thinks that they're going to be theperson that ends up getting cancer, but it
happens.
And she has been in the public eye, of course,
(09:33):
through her whole, I mean, her 20s up untilnow.
So people, they feel like they know her.
They care about her.
They like her and William.
This is something that Kensington palace, you
know, the firm, as they refer to the royalfamily, they rely on, it helps them with their
(09:54):
image, because just generally speaking, if youwere to poll people, King Charles, they don't
like him necessarily as much as they likewill, and know they bring a lot of positivity
to the royal family.
And thankfully, it does appear that she'll be
(10:18):
fine.
CBS News interviewed a doctor, Dr. John Lepuk,
who kind of explained what this would mean,that essentially there was no indication
necessarily going in that that was going tohappen, but that it wasn't until afterwards,
(10:39):
as he explained it, they knew it was going tobe some prolonged recovery.
And in there, presumably, when they were ableto take a good look, they didn't see any
evidence of cancer.
And it was only afterwards when I guess there
maybe was an examination of a specimen, asurgical specimen, that they said, oh, there's
some cancer here.
(11:00):
And then the Associated Press also cited
another doctor who noted that whatpreventative chemotherapy means is essentially
to prevent microscopic cancer cells fromgrowing.
It's not so much that she might still have atumor or whatever it may be, but that it's to
(11:26):
keep the cells that may be there from growingmore.
So, as the Associated Press expert said, thisis chemotherapy after an operation to prevent
recurrence.
This is to attempt to destroy any circulating
cancer cells.
And Lepouk noted that there are side effects,
like making someone look tired.
(11:47):
And another doctor told the AP, Dr. Monica
Avila, that it can take anywhere from a fewweeks or a couple of months to recover from
these side effects.
But typically, the experts have all agreed
that given what we do know, she should be backto 100% once her treatment has completed.
(12:14):
So all in all, that's a really good sign forKate.
As emotional and difficult as it may be forher right now, it's a good sign for her and as
just, it's relieving to know, okay, these kidsare not going to have to go through what
(12:36):
William and Harry went through, losing theirmom in the public eye in such, this horrible
way.
And that brings me to the next point, is this
whole controversy with the photos and thewhere's Kate?
After her cancer diagnosis was announced,there was a lot, a lot of people online think
(12:59):
pieces and op eds and on social mediaeverywhere you turned, pointing the fingers,
saying, oh, now you should feel bad aboutyourself, all of these things.
You harassed this woman fighting cancerbecause you thought you had a right to her
medical records and blah, blah, blah.
So I do think that there is some truth to
(13:20):
that.
We tend to treat people in the public eye,
whether it's someone like Prince William andPrincess Catherine, to just everyday know,
like Reese Witherspoon or Jennifer Aniston,whoever, like, we have a right to know what's
going on in their know, like with, you know,oh, what's going on with her and Joe Alwyn and
(13:42):
now Travis Kelsey?Are they engaged?
Are they broken up?Are they still together?
Oh, who is all too well about.
To an extent that's understandable, because
they are sharing themselves with us.
Right?
So we get used to that.
But then there's also a point where it turns
(14:03):
into an expectation that they owe usinformation, and that is something that the
public definitely does not do well with.
Where this entitled nature of social media and
where everything is kind of instantaneous.
(14:24):
We want answers.
We want to know every second of what's goingon.
Every moment of people's lives are beingdocumented.
And everything is also very curated.
And I think it makes people forget that there
are real people on the other sides of thosescreens.
So those are good points.
But I also think that the real villain, quote
(14:48):
unquote, in all of this is being given a freepass, and that is Kensington palace itself,
the firm, the royal family.
Let's be clear about something.
When all of this started, when people weregoing on with the where's Kate?
Thing, it was not Kate Middleton's decision toput out this photo.
(15:16):
And the fact that people somehow have it intheir head that she did is insane to me.
William and Kate do not do anything publiclywithout everyone at Kensington palace knowing
about it.
They have a PR team, a communications team,
people who have to okay everything they do.
(15:37):
I don't think anyone thinks know Taylor Swift
is the one posting on her own Instagram page,right, or whatever other celebrity they have,
someone that does that for them.
Multiply that by a thousand, and you've got
the royal family.
Kate is not the one who arranges for these.
Know when they say, oh, this photo was takenby William.
(15:57):
Oh, I'm sure it was.
But that picture or a picture that she takes
know, Charlote, whatever the case may be,these pictures have to be approved.
And the fact that they are sent to adagencies.
Again, this is not just some random, nicelittle family photo that William took of Kate
(16:20):
and the kids in their backyard that was justcasually posted on social media, and then
people ripped her apart for it.
This was something that Kensington palace did,
and the photoshop errors that were found weresubstantial.
It is not a small thing for news agencies toissue a kill notice on a photo.
(16:44):
They are used to there being some levels ofediting and manipulation.
I mean, you can just look at any picture of aKardashian in any news article.
It's normal for things to be edited andmanipulated to a certain extent.
Everyone's photoshopping themselves to makethem look the best they can.
The problems in this photo were substantial,so much so that there is even a TikTok video.
(17:11):
And I will try to find it so I can post it inthe show notes.
But if I can't find it, my apologies.
That even found the exact face in that photo
was from a vogue cover shoot.
Okay, this is not a small thing.
This photo was cobbled together.
Kensington palace even refused to release the
(17:33):
original.
They did say it was one photo taken, right?
Because the one explanation that people madeis, oh, they had, like, five or six photos,
and they just kind of cobbled them alltogether so that everyone's faces looked the
best, and that's why it looks all edited.
And that would have been a guess, you know,
(17:54):
friendly explanation.
But Kensington palace did say, no, it's one
photo.
So who is in that?
If. If it was Kate, and they just didn't likethat she looked know, which.
She has every right to look tired.
She's fighting cancer.
Whatever the situation was, Kensington palacesaw this fur over.
Where's Kate?Where's Kate?
(18:15):
What's going on?And instead of just releasing another
statement saying, as we mentioned in January,Kate is recovering from surgery.
She will not be appearing in the public eyeuntil Easter.
That's all they had to do.
And instead, they put out this horrible photo
that, again, had a kill notice put on it,which is a big deal.
(18:40):
Big deal.
And then afterwards, they blame it on her.
And again, I just want to point out, this isnot something that she would have done
herself.
Okay.
Like, William and Kate are not releasing anystatements without Kensington palace knowing
about it, without King Charles knowing aboutit and being okay with it.
(19:04):
And she was not the one who would have editedthat picture.
But here she is this whole time, fightingcancer, and Kensington palace throws her to
the wolves and just completely botches the PReffort.
(19:26):
And what's funny is that up until Kate'sannouncement, where she said she had cancer,
people were rightly pointing the finger atKensington palace.
They weren't pointing the finger at Kate, ifyou notice that.
They were pointing the finger at the firm,saying, what's going on?
And the people that were looking suspiciouswere Charles and William.
(19:48):
Right?So all of this where people are now turning
around and saying, oh, look at you.
You harassed this woman with cancer.
And the problem was never Kate to begin with.
It was the firm.
And this is a longer, more widespread issuethan just with Kate Middleton.
(20:11):
This is about an organization.
Because let's be clear, this is an
organization.
This isn't just, oh, we're a family and we
love each other.
I mean, they're called the firm for a reason.
This is a business.
They bring in millions, if not billions of
dollars, which that's something you shouldremember whenever you hear them criticizing
(20:32):
Harry and Meghan for having their own littleside hustles.
They all do.
Charles does.
They all do.
Every single one of them.
In addition to the money they get from britishtaxpayers, they have millions they bring in
from their own businesses.
These are people who make tons and tons and
tons of money.
And very much of their life revolves around
(20:53):
being in the public eye and presenting theright kind of image to uphold the monarchy.
That is the thing to remember here.
The whole point of their existence is to
uphold the monarchy.
And people like Diana and Fergie, remember
Sarah Ferguson and Megan and Kate are onlywelcome as long as they are useful.
(21:20):
And their job is exactly that, to be useful tothe firm, to the business.
And the second that they are not, they willget spit up and chewed up and spit out.
And that is exactly what just happened toKate.
She's done everything right as long as she'sbeen married to William, and it still didn't
matter.
They didn't have her back.
(21:40):
They did not care.
They didn't care that they were throwing this
young mother who was fighting cancer to thewolves and blaming this thing on her that was
not her fault.
It's mind boggling that people don't see
through this.
But again, Kate Middleton is not casually
(22:03):
photoshopping a picture and then putting it onInstagram and sending it to international news
agencies.
This is what the palace is doing.
And when that didn't get people off theirbacks, and when news agencies immediately,
like the Associated Press and Reuters andeveryone else, immediately said, no, this has
been heavily manipulated, then they blamed iton her and caused it to be even worse, where
(22:29):
they had to stage even more photo ops.
So now this woman with cancer has to go and go
on these outings with William instead of them.
Just either one telling the truth from the
beginning, or two reminding the public, hey,she's not going to be in the public eye
because she's recovering from surgery, as wepreviously noted.
But she appreciates your thoughts and prayers,et cetera, et cetera no. Instead, they threw
(22:55):
her to the wolves.
They threw her under the bus.
They blamed everything on her, and she didn'tdo any of it.
And I guarantee you.
Well, I shouldn't say guarantee.
Who knows what's going through Kate's mind?I cannot imagine that it was her idea to dress
in her nice little sweater and get her hairdone and sit in her lovely garden and make
(23:17):
this video talking about her cancer diagnosisin front of the world.
She looked emotional for a reason.
She looked nervous, and I don't blame her for
that.
No one should blame her for that.
Kate is absolutely the victim here, and she'sgoing through hell.
But when we're thinking about all of this,yes, we need to remember that these are real
(23:40):
people with real lives that we are notentitled to information about.
But we also need to remember that the bad guyhere is not the public for asking questions.
The bad guy here was the organization that wasso willing to use and exploit and then let
(24:03):
people attack a young mother fighting cancer.
When you really think about all of that, the
depths that they went to to do all of this,manipulating the photo, blaming, putting out
this statement, saying it was from Kate, when,again, no, she didn't write that.
(24:28):
Someone else did.
But they sure as heck are going to say it's
from her, blaming all of this on her.
So now she's got this whole media furor on her
shoulders, in addition to everything else thatshould infuriate people.
People should be angry.
They should be angry at the system that put
her in that position.
But they had the master stroke, which is.
(24:53):
Oh, well, you know what?If we can convince Kate to go public with her
cancer diagnosis, all of the anger willdisappear.
And that's exactly what.
And now.
Now no one's mad at Kensington palace anymore,are they?
No one's making jokes about King Charles andWilliam.
(25:13):
What have you done with Kate?No one's suspicious about the firm anymore.
It worked beautifully.
And distracted from their massive PR disaster,
from the.
So it's.
It's just sad that it took this woman, thismother, who has done everything right, being
(25:36):
treated this way.
It's a sad statement that even the most
privileged among us, if you're a woman and amother, this is what you'll still be treated
with, treated like.
And all we can do, I guess, is hope that for
(26:02):
her, things go well and that they calm downand that she is given the time, truly given
the time to rest and recover, because, again,she didn't need to get all dressed up.
They could have just released a statement.
But Kate is their puppet, to be used how they
(26:22):
want to be used.
And that's what's going to happen.
It's sad.
It truly is sad.
And that is when you're considering all ofthis, this whole situation, and you're
thinking about how Kate's been treated and thepublic has been treating her so badly.
(26:48):
Remember that the call is coming from insidethe house.
So that's it for us this week.
I hope you'll tune in again next week, and we
will talk to you soon.
That's our episode for this week.
(27:09):
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Thanks for stopping by the Fireflies andWhoopee Pie podcast, the only podcast by south
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Until next time.
Hi, and welcome to the south central PA mom, Fireflies and Whoopee Pie podcast, where
we discuss motherhood, local events, andeverything in between right here in south
central, Pa.
So sit back, grab a coffee a while, and settle
in for the show.
You.
(00:28):
Hi, everyone.
Welcome back to another episode.
Today we are going to be talking aboutPrincess Catherine and her cancer diagnosis
and the role that Kensington palace has playedin this.
So in case you aren't familiar, we have KateMiddleton, who is married to Prince William of
the british royal family, the same person thatwe all from the 90s had pictures on our walls
(00:50):
of from every teen magazine.
In January.
Earlier this year, just to give a quickrundown of what happened, Kate made an
announcement that she was going to be taking astep back from her royal duties because she
had a planned abdominal surgery and that shewould be out of the public eye until April.
(01:12):
Until around Easter, basically.
So for whatever reason, people noticed that
she hasn't been seen in a long time.
This should have been expected because of the
statement that was given at the beginning ofthe year that she was recovering from surgery.
But for whatever reason, people on Twitter,I'm sorry, it's x, formerly known as Twitter,
(01:39):
they started talking about her being missing,and it became this funny kind of joke where
people were making memes, and then it turnedinto, well, you know, where is Kate?
Why haven't we seen Kate?Why is Kate not in the public eye?
And it didn't seem to matter that there wasthis announcement that had already been given
(02:01):
saying that she was not going to be in thepublic doing her public duties until Easter.
So that became this big controversy.
Kate's missing.
Why isn't anyone seeing Kate?Is Kate okay?
Is Kate safe?And here's where things went badly.
(02:22):
The short version of this is that on Mother'sDay, the British Mother's Day, which is not in
may, but was just in March, March 10, apicture of Kate with her children, she's got
three children, was released, and almostimmediately, a kill notice was put out by tons
(02:45):
of international news agencies saying, thisimage has been manipulated and doctored.
Not long after that, a statement was released,allegedly written by Kate herself, saying, oh,
I'm so sorry.
I like to play around with editing software
just like anyone else.
He he so sorry.
(03:07):
And that, of course, only made it worse.
Not long after that, there was more
speculation going around about Kate and theold rumors about William and Rose Hanley, who
is the marchness of Chumsley, began to scurryaround again.
(03:29):
So we had this little grainy picture video ofKate and William at a farmer's market like,
oh, look how happy and healthy they are.
And then finally we get the announcement that
Kate Middleton has cancer.
And that is why she has not been in the public
eye.
So there's a lot to dive into with this.
And the first thing is that I think that asmothers, we all can empathize, right.
(03:53):
Because the only thing worse as a mom thanseeing one of your kids fight cancer is you
being the one to do it.
And then this unlocks this fear.
Not so much.
Oh, I'm going to die.
And that makes me upset, but it's, I'm goingto die and that's going to traumatize my
(04:16):
children.
Right.
You don't so much worry about your own deathas it is.
How is it going to affect my know, my kids aregoing to be without their mother.
I'm never going to get to see them grow up.
I'm not going to get to see them get married
and graduate from high school and have theirown babies.
And that is something that Kate is very muchin the middle of right now.
(04:36):
Her oldest is George and he's only eleven.
Not even eleven.
He'll be eleven in July.
Charlote is about to be nine and then Lewis is
about to be six.
I mean, these are little kids and they're
still babies and their mom is.
She's sick.
(04:57):
She might not know.
Well, let's backtrack that a little bit.
I shouldn't say she might not survive.
I guess anything is possible.
But from all indications, given what Kateherself has said, her cancer was caught early
and there's every likelihood that she's goingto make a full recovery and will be fine.
(05:23):
So essentially what happened is she, in herstatement, talked about how she had undergone
abdominal surgery, as had been mentioned inJanuary, and that was the point where this
(05:43):
diagnosis was discovered.
So we can play that video for you really
quick.
Kate Middleton (05:50):
I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you personally for
all the wonderful messages of support and foryour understanding whilst I've been recovering
from surgery.
It has been an incredibly tough couple of
months for our entire family.
But I've had a fantastic medical team who have
taken great care of me for which I'm sograteful.
(06:12):
In January, I underwent major abdominalsurgery in London and at the time it was
thought that my condition was non cancerous.
The surgery was successful.
However, tests after the operation and cancerhad been present.
My medical team therefore advised that Ishould undergo a course of preventative
chemotherapy.
(06:33):
And I'm now in the early stages of that
treatment.
This, of course, came as a huge shock, and
William and I have been doing everything wecan to process and manage this privately for
the sake of our young family.
As you can imagine, this has taken time.
It has taken me time to recover from majorsurgery in order to start my treatment.
(06:55):
But most importantly, it has taken us time toexplain everything to George, Charlote, and
Louis in a way that's appropriate for them andto reassure them that I'm going to be okay.
As I've said to them, I am well and gettingstronger every day by focusing on the things
that will help me heal in my mind, body, andspirits.
(07:16):
Having William by my side is a great source ofcomfort and reassurance, too, as is the love,
support, and kindness that has been shown byso many of you.
It means so much trust, place.
We hope that you'll understand that as a
family, we now need some time, space, andprivacy while I complete my treatment.
(07:39):
My work has always brought me a deep sense ofjoy, and I look forward to being back when I'm
able.
But for now, I must focus on making a full
recovery.
At this time, I'm also thinking of all those
whose lives have been affected by cancer.
For everyone facing this disease, in whatever
form, please do not lose faith or hope.
(08:02):
You are not alone.
Cassy (08:05):
So I will make sure to include that in the show notes, in case you have not seen it
for yourself.
But I think it's important to note there that
she did stay calm, but she looked tired, asanyone who is undergoing chemotherapy would.
And she looked emotional, especially theretowards the end.
(08:28):
And that's, again, I think, is mom somethingthat we all can empathize with?
And it just kind of breaks your heartthinking, yes, she's a princess.
Even before she was a princess, she was anaristocrat.
Well, she was an aristocrat in how britishpeople would think of it.
(08:49):
But to us Americans, she was born in this verywealthy family, and now she's a princess, and
she's got tons of money, and she leads a charmto life.
But at the same time, she's a mom.
She's a woman just like us.
She's 42, and she's got babies, and here sheis fighting cancer.
(09:12):
And it's the last thing that any of us expectwill happen.
No one thinks that they're going to be theperson that ends up getting cancer, but it
happens.
And she has been in the public eye, of course,
(09:33):
through her whole, I mean, her 20s up untilnow.
So people, they feel like they know her.
They care about her.
They like her and William.
This is something that Kensington palace, you
know, the firm, as they refer to the royalfamily, they rely on, it helps them with their
(09:54):
image, because just generally speaking, if youwere to poll people, King Charles, they don't
like him necessarily as much as they likewill, and know they bring a lot of positivity
to the royal family.
And thankfully, it does appear that she'll be
(10:18):
fine.
CBS News interviewed a doctor, Dr. John Lepuk,
who kind of explained what this would mean,that essentially there was no indication
necessarily going in that that was going tohappen, but that it wasn't until afterwards,
(10:39):
as he explained it, they knew it was going tobe some prolonged recovery.
And in there, presumably, when they were ableto take a good look, they didn't see any
evidence of cancer.
And it was only afterwards when I guess there
maybe was an examination of a specimen, asurgical specimen, that they said, oh, there's
some cancer here.
(11:00):
And then the Associated Press also cited
another doctor who noted that whatpreventative chemotherapy means is essentially
to prevent microscopic cancer cells fromgrowing.
It's not so much that she might still have atumor or whatever it may be, but that it's to
(11:26):
keep the cells that may be there from growingmore.
So, as the Associated Press expert said, thisis chemotherapy after an operation to prevent
recurrence.
This is to attempt to destroy any circulating
cancer cells.
And Lepouk noted that there are side effects,
like making someone look tired.
(11:47):
And another doctor told the AP, Dr. Monica
Avila, that it can take anywhere from a fewweeks or a couple of months to recover from
these side effects.
But typically, the experts have all agreed
that given what we do know, she should be backto 100% once her treatment has completed.
(12:14):
So all in all, that's a really good sign forKate.
As emotional and difficult as it may be forher right now, it's a good sign for her and as
just, it's relieving to know, okay, these kidsare not going to have to go through what
(12:36):
William and Harry went through, losing theirmom in the public eye in such, this horrible
way.
And that brings me to the next point, is this
whole controversy with the photos and thewhere's Kate?
After her cancer diagnosis was announced,there was a lot, a lot of people online think
(12:59):
pieces and op eds and on social mediaeverywhere you turned, pointing the fingers,
saying, oh, now you should feel bad aboutyourself, all of these things.
You harassed this woman fighting cancerbecause you thought you had a right to her
medical records and blah, blah, blah.
So I do think that there is some truth to
(13:20):
that.
We tend to treat people in the public eye,
whether it's someone like Prince William andPrincess Catherine, to just everyday know,
like Reese Witherspoon or Jennifer Aniston,whoever, like, we have a right to know what's
going on in their know, like with, you know,oh, what's going on with her and Joe Alwyn and
(13:42):
now Travis Kelsey?Are they engaged?
Are they broken up?Are they still together?
Oh, who is all too well about.
To an extent that's understandable, because
they are sharing themselves with us.
Right?
So we get used to that.
But then there's also a point where it turns
(14:03):
into an expectation that they owe usinformation, and that is something that the
public definitely does not do well with.
Where this entitled nature of social media and
where everything is kind of instantaneous.
(14:24):
We want answers.
We want to know every second of what's goingon.
Every moment of people's lives are beingdocumented.
And everything is also very curated.
And I think it makes people forget that there
are real people on the other sides of thosescreens.
So those are good points.
But I also think that the real villain, quote
(14:48):
unquote, in all of this is being given a freepass, and that is Kensington palace itself,
the firm, the royal family.
Let's be clear about something.
When all of this started, when people weregoing on with the where's Kate?
Thing, it was not Kate Middleton's decision toput out this photo.
(15:16):
And the fact that people somehow have it intheir head that she did is insane to me.
William and Kate do not do anything publiclywithout everyone at Kensington palace knowing
about it.
They have a PR team, a communications team,
people who have to okay everything they do.
(15:37):
I don't think anyone thinks know Taylor Swift
is the one posting on her own Instagram page,right, or whatever other celebrity they have,
someone that does that for them.
Multiply that by a thousand, and you've got
the royal family.
Kate is not the one who arranges for these.
Know when they say, oh, this photo was takenby William.
(15:57):
Oh, I'm sure it was.
But that picture or a picture that she takes
know, Charlote, whatever the case may be,these pictures have to be approved.
And the fact that they are sent to adagencies.
Again, this is not just some random, nicelittle family photo that William took of Kate
(16:20):
and the kids in their backyard that was justcasually posted on social media, and then
people ripped her apart for it.
This was something that Kensington palace did,
and the photoshop errors that were found weresubstantial.
It is not a small thing for news agencies toissue a kill notice on a photo.
(16:44):
They are used to there being some levels ofediting and manipulation.
I mean, you can just look at any picture of aKardashian in any news article.
It's normal for things to be edited andmanipulated to a certain extent.
Everyone's photoshopping themselves to makethem look the best they can.
The problems in this photo were substantial,so much so that there is even a TikTok video.
(17:11):
And I will try to find it so I can post it inthe show notes.
But if I can't find it, my apologies.
That even found the exact face in that photo
was from a vogue cover shoot.
Okay, this is not a small thing.
This photo was cobbled together.
Kensington palace even refused to release the
(17:33):
original.
They did say it was one photo taken, right?
Because the one explanation that people madeis, oh, they had, like, five or six photos,
and they just kind of cobbled them alltogether so that everyone's faces looked the
best, and that's why it looks all edited.
And that would have been a guess, you know,
(17:54):
friendly explanation.
But Kensington palace did say, no, it's one
photo.
So who is in that?
If. If it was Kate, and they just didn't likethat she looked know, which.
She has every right to look tired.
She's fighting cancer.
Whatever the situation was, Kensington palacesaw this fur over.
Where's Kate?Where's Kate?
(18:15):
What's going on?And instead of just releasing another
statement saying, as we mentioned in January,Kate is recovering from surgery.
She will not be appearing in the public eyeuntil Easter.
That's all they had to do.
And instead, they put out this horrible photo
that, again, had a kill notice put on it,which is a big deal.
(18:40):
Big deal.
And then afterwards, they blame it on her.
And again, I just want to point out, this isnot something that she would have done
herself.
Okay.
Like, William and Kate are not releasing anystatements without Kensington palace knowing
about it, without King Charles knowing aboutit and being okay with it.
(19:04):
And she was not the one who would have editedthat picture.
But here she is this whole time, fightingcancer, and Kensington palace throws her to
the wolves and just completely botches the PReffort.
(19:26):
And what's funny is that up until Kate'sannouncement, where she said she had cancer,
people were rightly pointing the finger atKensington palace.
They weren't pointing the finger at Kate, ifyou notice that.
They were pointing the finger at the firm,saying, what's going on?
And the people that were looking suspiciouswere Charles and William.
(19:48):
Right?So all of this where people are now turning
around and saying, oh, look at you.
You harassed this woman with cancer.
And the problem was never Kate to begin with.
It was the firm.
And this is a longer, more widespread issuethan just with Kate Middleton.
(20:11):
This is about an organization.
Because let's be clear, this is an
organization.
This isn't just, oh, we're a family and we
love each other.
I mean, they're called the firm for a reason.
This is a business.
They bring in millions, if not billions of
dollars, which that's something you shouldremember whenever you hear them criticizing
(20:32):
Harry and Meghan for having their own littleside hustles.
They all do.
Charles does.
They all do.
Every single one of them.
In addition to the money they get from britishtaxpayers, they have millions they bring in
from their own businesses.
These are people who make tons and tons and
tons of money.
And very much of their life revolves around
(20:53):
being in the public eye and presenting theright kind of image to uphold the monarchy.
That is the thing to remember here.
The whole point of their existence is to
uphold the monarchy.
And people like Diana and Fergie, remember
Sarah Ferguson and Megan and Kate are onlywelcome as long as they are useful.
(21:20):
And their job is exactly that, to be useful tothe firm, to the business.
And the second that they are not, they willget spit up and chewed up and spit out.
And that is exactly what just happened toKate.
She's done everything right as long as she'sbeen married to William, and it still didn't
matter.
They didn't have her back.
(21:40):
They did not care.
They didn't care that they were throwing this
young mother who was fighting cancer to thewolves and blaming this thing on her that was
not her fault.
It's mind boggling that people don't see
through this.
But again, Kate Middleton is not casually
(22:03):
photoshopping a picture and then putting it onInstagram and sending it to international news
agencies.
This is what the palace is doing.
And when that didn't get people off theirbacks, and when news agencies immediately,
like the Associated Press and Reuters andeveryone else, immediately said, no, this has
been heavily manipulated, then they blamed iton her and caused it to be even worse, where
(22:29):
they had to stage even more photo ops.
So now this woman with cancer has to go and go
on these outings with William instead of them.
Just either one telling the truth from the
beginning, or two reminding the public, hey,she's not going to be in the public eye
because she's recovering from surgery, as wepreviously noted.
But she appreciates your thoughts and prayers,et cetera, et cetera no. Instead, they threw
(22:55):
her to the wolves.
They threw her under the bus.
They blamed everything on her, and she didn'tdo any of it.
And I guarantee you.
Well, I shouldn't say guarantee.
Who knows what's going through Kate's mind?I cannot imagine that it was her idea to dress
in her nice little sweater and get her hairdone and sit in her lovely garden and make
(23:17):
this video talking about her cancer diagnosisin front of the world.
She looked emotional for a reason.
She looked nervous, and I don't blame her for
that.
No one should blame her for that.
Kate is absolutely the victim here, and she'sgoing through hell.
But when we're thinking about all of this,yes, we need to remember that these are real
(23:40):
people with real lives that we are notentitled to information about.
But we also need to remember that the bad guyhere is not the public for asking questions.
The bad guy here was the organization that wasso willing to use and exploit and then let
(24:03):
people attack a young mother fighting cancer.
When you really think about all of that, the
depths that they went to to do all of this,manipulating the photo, blaming, putting out
this statement, saying it was from Kate, when,again, no, she didn't write that.
(24:28):
Someone else did.
But they sure as heck are going to say it's
from her, blaming all of this on her.
So now she's got this whole media furor on her
shoulders, in addition to everything else thatshould infuriate people.
People should be angry.
They should be angry at the system that put
her in that position.
But they had the master stroke, which is.
(24:53):
Oh, well, you know what?If we can convince Kate to go public with her
cancer diagnosis, all of the anger willdisappear.
And that's exactly what.
And now.
Now no one's mad at Kensington palace anymore,are they?
No one's making jokes about King Charles andWilliam.
(25:13):
What have you done with Kate?No one's suspicious about the firm anymore.
It worked beautifully.
And distracted from their massive PR disaster,
from the.
So it's.
It's just sad that it took this woman, thismother, who has done everything right, being
(25:36):
treated this way.
It's a sad statement that even the most
privileged among us, if you're a woman and amother, this is what you'll still be treated
with, treated like.
And all we can do, I guess, is hope that for
(26:02):
her, things go well and that they calm downand that she is given the time, truly given
the time to rest and recover, because, again,she didn't need to get all dressed up.
They could have just released a statement.
But Kate is their puppet, to be used how they
(26:22):
want to be used.
And that's what's going to happen.
It's sad.
It truly is sad.
And that is when you're considering all ofthis, this whole situation, and you're
thinking about how Kate's been treated and thepublic has been treating her so badly.
(26:48):
Remember that the call is coming from insidethe house.
So that's it for us this week.
I hope you'll tune in again next week, and we
will talk to you soon.
That's our episode for this week.
(27:09):
New episodes will drop every Monday.
Make sure to subscribe so you never miss out.
Leave us a review and share to help other momsfind us.
Thanks for stopping by the Fireflies andWhoopee Pie podcast, the only podcast by south
central PA moms or south central PA moms.
Until next time.
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