A resurfaced video of David Foster calling his wife Katherine McPhee “fat” has sparked outrage.
In the video, which was shared on TikTok in March 2023, the couple was on stage at one of Foster's shows, recalling how they met. With the microphone in her hand, while her husband sat at the piano, McPhee acknowledged that they first met nearly 18 years ago when she was a contestant on American Idol and Foster was his mentor.
“I was a little chubby and happy, a contestant on American Idol“I was so happy,” she said, as a screen on stage showed a photo of McPhee from the early 2000s. “Look at me smiling, I was so happy.”
Foster then chimed in to comment on her appearance when they first met, saying, “Oh yeah. You were fat.” In response, McPhee playfully rolled her eyes at her and defended her appearance. american idol.
“I was a little bit chubby, okay?” she said, before he replied: “That was true.” Then she added: “I was young.”
The resurfaced video has since sparked controversy on social media, with one person on TikTok saying in January that Foster’s comment about his wife’s appearance was “hard to watch.”
The TikTok user, who goes by the username @jordycray, also claimed that Foster's comment was especially inappropriate because, after American IdolMcPhee opened up about her struggles with an eating disorder.
“I feel like [Foster] “I was being sarcastic when I said, ‘Yeah, you’re fat,’” he explained. “But I was okay with it when she said I was chubby.”
In the comments of the TikTok video, several people also criticized Foster for making the comment about his wife on stage in the first place.
“This made my heart hurt. This beautiful girl was NEVER fat. You don’t call your wife fat. Jokingly or seriously,” one wrote.
“It says a lot that she brought it up and it says even more that he played along and commented on her weight,” another added.
A third commented: “Any comment about a woman’s weight is inappropriate and he showed his true colors with that comment.”
The independent has contacted representatives for Foster and McPhee for comment.
Foster and McPhee met in 2006 when the singer was a contestant on American Idol. The couple, who share a 35-year age difference, were reported to be dating in May 2017, before announcing their engagement in July 2018. The couple married in June 2019 and later welcomed their first child. son together, Rennie, in February 2022.
McPhee also previously opened up about her eating disorder. During an appearance in The reported pregnancy according to Dr. Berlin podcast, shared via Entertainment TonightIn 2021, she revealed that she feared a “relapse” during her pregnancy.
“The biggest challenge for me during pregnancy was that suddenly, issues with my body were coming up in a way that hadn’t been there in a long time,” she said. “I’ve felt very stable in my life over the last four or five years, and my weight has remained more or less stable. But feeling like there was a relapse after I got pregnant was really shocking, upsetting and worrying for me.”
In January 2022, Foster was also accused of “perpetuating the unhealthy narrative that women should return to their pre-pregnancy size or be smaller” after praising McPhee's postpartum body. The criticism came after the musician shared a photo on Instagram of McPhee, in a bikini and sitting on the grass, a month after she had her baby. He captioned the photo: “What a baby!” along with a music note emoji.
