Fans are horrified to have seen reports of Hilary Farr on her deathbed after a resurgence of cancer.
Not only because Love It Or List It is a beloved fixture of the home design television ecosystem, but because she is a cancer survivor.
However, some fans were hesitant to believe unconfirmed reports.
Hilary herself has now shared a health update.
Does Hilary Farr have cancer again?
“The physician caring for Hilary Farr’s cancer has provided a devastating update on her health,” claims a report that the design expert herself shared in screenshot form on her Instagram page.
“‘She might never be seen on TV in the future,'” the quote from the alleged oncologist reads.
That is an unnatural sentence in the English language. And that’s far from the only red flag.
Below these lines were a series of images of Hilary, including one that is clearly genAI slop depicting her in a hospital bed with a breathing apparatus.
“Some personal news,” Hilary herself shared in the caption alongside the screenshot.
As you can see for yourself, Hilary’s screenshot is in fact a video — with the designer stepping out in front of the bogus headline in order to debunk it.
Walking in front of a green screen (which she used to project the unfortunately widespread report of her alleged terminal illness), Hilary herself addressed her Instagram followers.
“Ta-da! I’m alive,” she announced.
“Very, very, very much so alive and well, I’m happy to say,” Hilary emphasized.
As a designer, she looked at the obviously phony report with a critical eye: “Look at this thing, really? It’s so badly done.”
Fake stories and fake headlines have only gotten worse since slop generators hit the internet
“It’s crazy AI stuff,” Hilary lamented, referring to the slop that people produce with that putrid software.
“I hope none of you would really take any of this seriously,” she expressed.
“And,” Hilary continued, “realize it is just fake beyond words.”
She emphasized: “Well, I’m here to prove that.” She certainly looks alive and well.
“So just checking in,” Hilary explained. “All’s good with me.”
Fake stories that circulate with no truth or substance to them exist simply to elicit outrage and engagement.
This might not sound profitable. But click-farmers in extremely poor regions of the world can make ends meet using money from engagement that they generate through platforms like Facebook.
Some simply copy-paste actual articles (we here at THG have seen it happen to our content countless times).
Others realize that they can get more engagement by simply fabricating events and headlines.
After all, it’s easier to write an engaging headline if you get to make up the story. Misinformation can spread like wildfire that way.
‘Love It Or List It’ is a true HGTV gem, by the way
To be clear, Hilary is 74 years old. She is also a cancer survivor.
In 2021, she revealed that she was in remission.
She really had breast cancer. That makes a false story like this one so much more heinous.
We’re glad that she debunked the story, but it’s sad that she had to.
(This is neither here nor there, but Hilary was always the best part of Love It Or List It and the show isn’t the same without her on it)