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 pair were onstage at one of Foster’s shows, recalling how they first met. With the microphone in hand, as her husband was sitting at the piano, McPhee acknowledged that they were first introduced nearly 18 years ago when she was a contestant on American Idol and Foster was her mentor.
“I was a little chubby, and cheerful, contestant on American Idol ,” she said, while a screen on the 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 met, saying: “Oh yeah.
You were fat.” In response, McPhee jokingly rolled her eyes at him and defended how she looked on American Idol . “I was a little chubby, okay,” she said, before he responded: “That was true.
” She then added: “I was young.” The resurfaced video has since sparked controversy on social media, with one person on TikTok in January saying that Foster’s remark 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 Idol , McPhee spoke out about her struggles with an eating disorder.
“I feel like [Foster] was being sarcastic when he was saying: ‘Yeah you’re fat,’” he explained. “But agreed when .
