Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Tribeca TV FestivalPatrick J. Adams is apologizing for his recent social media post.
Over the weekend, the Suits actor attended his former co-star Meghan Markle's royal wedding to Prince Harry alongside his wife, Pretty Little Liars alum Troian Bellisario. After the wedding celebrations ended, Adams and Bellisario headed to the airport to catch a flight out of London.
While there, Adams posted a photo to Instagram of a sleeping woman who he says body shamed him and Bellisario.
"She reads her paper. See's picture of me and Troian from wedding. 'My God. What a terrible photo of you.' I look over. 'Really. I kind of like that photo. What do you think is wrong with it?' She pauses. 'Well, you're just so....chunky.'" Adams detailed in the since-deleted post (via Daily Mail). "She laughs and falls asleep. I photograph her sleeping. And....scene. #royalwedding."
After receiving some backlash for the post, Adams took down the photo and has now replaced it with a lengthy apology.
"Yesterday I posted a photo of a woman who did some casual body shaming of my wife and I in the airport," Adams began. "My intention was solely to put a face to the people who think that sort of glancing commentary is necessary, helpful or funny. Some of the comments on the post instead said I was being a bully and should have taken the 'high road' (some also doubled down on the body shaming. Thumbs up guys!) I thought it over and agreed and took it down, not because I felt the woman was right or fair or undeserving of being called out but because any sense of being a bully or lashing out felt wrong."
"I'm no bully. What that woman said to us was offensive and unnecessary but I should have told her she was rude and out of line and left it at that," he went on to write. "I'm sorry I didn't. I was too shocked and annoyed and Canadian - so I avoided the confrontation. Again, I'm sorry."
He then shared what he learned from this experience, telling his Instagram followers, "1. Don't talk shit about the way people look. You have no idea what's going on with them and your commentary will always make their day worse not better. 2. If someone does. Don't use the internet to settle scores. Tell them right to their face and in public that they're part of the problem and not the solution. 3. Believe pretty much nothing you read in magazines. Good or bad. The machinery runs on misfortune and oversimplification. 4. Be cool to yourself and others at every opportunity. Life is too short for all of this. Thx for reading. Now back to our lives..."
Adams and Markle played love interests on the hit USA series for seven seasons. Their characters (spoiler!) tied the knot during the season seven finale of the show last month.