"They went after her," the former US president said.
Former President Donald Trump weighed in on the controversy surrounding a doctored photo of Kate Middleton, stating that the Princess of Wales simply did what many others do and it was “not a big deal”.
“That shouldn't be a big deal because everybody doctors,” the 77-year-old said during an interview with GB News on Tuesday.
“You look at these movie actors and you see a movie actor and you meet him, and you say, ‘Is that the same person in the picture?' And I looked at that actually, and it was a very minor doctoring. I don't understand why there could be such a howl over that.”
“It's a rough period that, you know, they are really, they went after her,” the former US president added.
The said photo was posted on Mother's Day following weeks of speculation about the princess's health, having undergone planned abdominal surgery in January as announced by the Kensington Palace at the time.
The 42-year-old has not been officially spotted in public since. The photo was posted from the royal couple's official account which showed Kate Middleton with her three children, but it was soon taken down by news agencies due to suspicions of it being photoshopped.
She also appeared without her wedding ring, sparking various theories about the photo being AI-generated or manipulated, which further led to speculation about her absence and rumours about the marital issues of the royal couple.
In an effort to clear up confusion and to dispel the rumours, the Princess of Wales seemingly released a statement on the official X account of the Prince and Princess of Wales, addressing the doctored picture.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day," the statement read, signed "C."
This comes after a video purportedly showing the Princess of Wales during an outing with Prince William at the Windsor Farmers Market went viral.
Rumours also swirled about Prince William's alleged affair with friend Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. But Ms Hanbury recently refuted the allegations, describing them as "completely false."