yes, true, in plain English (the bold part)

in Psych Parlance, that would qualify as emotional abuse, because IT decided for his partner how she should feel

see from this site:

"Humiliation, degradation, discounting, negating. judging, criticizing:
- Does anyone make fun of you or put you down in front of others?
- Do they tease you, use sarcasm as a way to put you down or degrade you?
- When you complain do they say that “it was just a joke” and that you are too sensitive?
- Do they tell you that your opinion or feelings are “wrong?”
- Does anyone regularly ridicule, dismiss, disregard your opinions, thoughts, suggestions, and feelings"

Signs of Emotional Abuse | World of Psychology

So I would apologize on two independent counts:

- the prank
- the emotional abuse

Opportunistic prank is excusable, in my book, and emotional abuse is not, but hopefully she is more generous and forgiving than I would be if I were her.