Amid rampant speculation surrounding the princess’ whereabouts, Colbert joked that “internet sleuths” had sussed out that Prince William was having an affair with Rose Hanbury. “According to tabloids back then, when Kate supposedly confronted him about it, he laughed it off, saying there was nothing to it,” he said, noting the initial affair speculation in 2019. “Always a good response when you’re wife accuses you of cheating.”
Lawyers for Rose subsequently denied the affair rumors and sent a legal notice to Colbert for the jokes. Shortly after, Kate revealed that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing preventative chemotherapy.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we do a lot of shows. And I tell a lot of jokes. And I tell jokes about a lot of different things — mostly what everybody’s talking about,” Stephen said on last night’s show. “For the last six weeks to two months, everybody has been talking about the mystery of Kate Middleton’s disappearance from public life.”
“When I made those jokes, they upset some people — even before her diagnosis was revealed. I can understand that. A lot of my jokes have upset people in the past and I’m sure some of my jokes will upset people in the future. But there’s a standard that I try to hold myself to, and that is I do not make light of somebody else’s tragedy. I don’t know whether her prognosis is a tragic one,” he continued “But regardless of what it is, I know, and far too many of us know that any cancer diagnosis of any kind is harrowing for the patient and for their family.”
He concluded, “Though I’m sure they don’t need it from me, I and everyone here at The Late Show, would like to extend our well wishes and heartfelt hope that her recovery is swift and thorough.”
Last week, Blake Lively apologized after making an Instagram post poking fun at the statement that Kate was behind the now-infamous Photoshop fail.