All the speculation and strange theories about Kate Middleton came to an end on the afternoon of Friday, March 22, 2024, when the Princess of Wales, sitting on a bench, revealed that she had cancer, giving no more details about the type and degree of cancer. the disease.
The 42-year-old explained that she discovered the presence of cancer from her medical team after doing tests for the surgery she performed in the abdominal area in January of this year. During all these months, from January until almost the end of March, the Internet, various social networks, the media, commentators and VIPs forced Kate to reveal that she is affected by such a disease. Conspiracy theories, jokes about surgical interventions, allegations of betrayal, thoughts that she had left her husband that he had cheated on her, speculations that she had passed away, etc., passed from one social network to another, while the princess was undergoing chemotherapy and being cared for for her three young children.
"It has been an extremely difficult few months for our whole family," the princess said in the video.
Let's be honest, although we greatly appreciate her courage to say publicly that she has cancer, again, the world had no reason to force her to tell it when Kate didn't even feel ready. One way or another, the internet, the media and everyone forced the princess to reveal something very personal, using conspiracies that just didn't seem to end despite her appearing twice in public.
Back to the origins: On January 17, 2023, Kensington Palace announced that Kate had scheduled abdominal surgery and would spend 10-14 days in the hospital recuperating. In the statement, the palace publicly stated that Kate would return to the public eye for Easter, on March 31. The statement could not be clearer. Technically and practically, Kate asked for a break from her job to take herself from the intervention and as we are now learning, from processing the fact that cancer is present in her body. With simple logic: Kate would not appear in public until Easter!
But we have to admit that we live in the age of the Internet and we are always tempted by conspiracy theories, trying to dig and find strange things when there are none. In the case of the Princess of Wales, the #WhereIsKate "movement" was born without any solid argument, or basis in any action she took.
It may have started as a joke, or as a real concern, but once it's published online, no one is held accountable. Trends go viral and don't know how to stop. People interact with conspiracy theories not always because they believe them, but because they are fun and a good way to understand memes, engage in banter, or gossip. So social networks are like a WhatsApp chat where we pick a topic of discussion and see how it will be treated and how far it can go. That's perfectly fine if it's unintentional, or not centered around a real person who is, in fact, suffering a lot. In this case, it has been made clear from the beginning and privacy is not an issue that can be played with, especially when the person concerned has had an operation.
Kate has politely asked for only one thing: Privacy. Like everyone, regardless of the title of fame, she deserves to have privacy, so that she can spend this illness with her family and children and not in front of the prying lenses of the paparazzi whose goal is simply to sell her photos.
Therefore, let the case of Kate Middleton serve as a message for everyone, to be more human even with the celebrities around us. The Internet cannot be confused with one's private life. It is not the moment to move on to another target, it is the moment to reflect.
By now, many commentators have reflected. In the video published by the princess on Instagram, comments like: "I wish the media would feel very ashamed of the disgusting behavior. The princess was forced to make this message extremely difficult. We should have allowed him to recover in privacy and peace”; "I think it's terrible that we forced him to do this. This poor woman wanted privacy and the media destroyed everything”; "It breaks my heart to think how people assume they are right that this woman and her family are owed something and how they want to know everything, all the time. They should not have added stress to her while she is experiencing something so challenging in her life. I wish them the best. She is a human being, a mother, wife, daughter, sister first and then a public figure" were some of the comments.
"We hope you understand that we as a family need some time, space and privacy while I do my treatment," Kate said in the video, and we hope everyone gets the message, as they should have. on January 17.
