This Morning star breaks silence with emotional post after backlash over April Fool's joke
This Morning DIY and design expert Georgina Burnett was branded 'embarrassing' after sharing an April Fool's 'pregnancy' announcement, and has now apologised for the 'ill-judged' joke
Georgina Burnett has issued an apology after shocking fans with an "insensitive" April Fool’s Day post. The This Morning star made it clear she didn’t mean to upset her followers, and explained what was going on in her head when went forward with her prank.
Aussie-born Georgina, 46, appeared to announce her third pregnancy on April 1, with a baby sibling to join her daughter and son. Taking to Instagram, the star shared a black-and-white photo of herself in comfy clothes at home, seeming to clutch her rounded belly. “News!” the ITV star simply captioned the snap. While some fans immediately bought into the idea that Georgina was pregnant, others noticed the date and held off until she clarified whether she was expecting or not.
The Grand Designs Live star soon made it clear that the ‘pregnancy announcement’ was a joke, replying with winking emojis to fans who called it out as an April Fool’s post.
Some fans were horrified that Georgina would seemingly joke about being pregnant, with many other celebs having faced backlash for posting about the sensitive topic.
“This is deeply hurtful to the huge number of women suffering with infertility… You would do well to consider this before making ‘jokes’ about such sensitive topics in the future,” one person wrote in the comment section.
“As a grown adult you actually think this is funny? Embarrassing,” raged a second, while a third follower added: “I’m sure you meant no offence but this is in incredibly poor taste.”
Georgina addressed the major backlash today, posting a photo of her cast on Instagram and outlining the thought process behind her prank.
"Yesterday I posted a picture of me holding a cat in a blanket as part of a lighthearted April Fool’s joke,” she wrote. “I was going to reveal my cat was becoming a teenager but some people thought my ‘news’ was that I was pregnant.
"It was never my intention to make a joke about pregnancy and I am very sorry if that’s how it came across. I can see now that the photo was ill-judged and poorly thought through.”
She added: “As a mum of two and having suffered infertility issues of my own, and had many friends go through the same, this would be the last thing I would make fun of and I’m horrified if this was taken the wrong way and I’m sorry if I have caused offence or hurt.”
Georgina left the comments disabled on her apology post, but on April 1 seemed to have followed through on the joke she originally had planned despite deleting her ‘baby bump’ snap.
The BBC weather presenter shared a montage of her cat, and wrote: “News… my first bundle of joy became a teenager today! Happy birthday Dexter - dreamies for tea!”
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