Actress and former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Denise Richards is getting raked over the coals for a truly bizarre Instagram post in which she bragged about not wearing a mask on a plane.
Despite the fact that no one asked, Richards took to the platform to notify her followers she wasn't wearing a mask and was hiding under a hoodie and a winter coat instead.
If that makes no sense to you it's because... well, it makes no medical or scientific sense, and the internet is dragging her for it. Richards has since deleted the post, but screenshots are forever, so see below for a glimpse at her post.
Below a caption stating that she was "on a jet plane," Richards wrote:
“Anyone that is upset that I [am] not wearing a mask I’m hiding under a hoody [sic] amd [sic] a huge winter coat. Please. Thicker than any mask!!!!!!”
Respectfully, Ms. Richards: What?
For the record, hiding under a hoodie and a winter coat is not a valid way of mitigating COVID-19.
Being combative about pandemic procedures isn't exactly out of character for Richards if her time on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is any indication.
Her husband Aaron Phypers, a practitioner of alternative medical treatments, claims to have discovered several medical breakthroughs so groundbreaking that the medical and pharmaceutical industries have been surveilling him and Richards for years. Phypers also claimed that “Everything you’ve been taught about how disease process and stuff works is not true."
In recent years the holistic wellness and alternative medicine worlds in which people like Phypers and Richards circulate have become closely aligned with anti-vaccine movements and conspiracy theories like QAnon, adherents of which believe COVID is a hoax, masks don't work and vaccines cause death, among other absurdities.
Nevertheless, Richards and Phypers have repeatedly been seen in masks during public appearances throughout the pandemic, so Richards' bizarre and unprovoked 180 Instagram post seems particularly out of left field.
Naturally, people on social media had a field day putting Richards in place.
According to a report in People, Richards is now said to be embarrassed about the post and has told people in her inner circle she regrets it.
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