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David Foster Slammed for Saying Wife Katharine McPhee Was ‘Fat’ on ‘American Idol’ in Viral Resurfaced Video
David Foster is getting slammed after he said wife Katharine McPhee was “fat” when she appeared on American Idol in 2006 in a viral video that resurfaced online.
In the video, Katharine, 40, was on stage in a sleek black minidress performing with her husband. She told the audience, “You may not know we met 17, almost 18 years ago when I was a little chubby and cheerful contestant on American Idol,” as David, 74, sat across from her behind a piano.
A photo appeared behind the couple showing Kat during her Idol season and David bluntly stated, “Oh, yeah, you were fat.” The legendary record producer appeared on Idol during his future wife’s season as a mentor to the contestants.
“I was a little chubby, OK?” Kathrine replied, as David coldly agreed, “Yeah, true.” She sadly added, “I was just young.”
As the video made the rounds on social media, the music executive was called out for cruel comments.
“Not so good-looking old guy calling his beautiful young wife who was NOT fat when she was young, fat then, is like asking to be a chicken on a chopping board! She’s hot & he’s not!” one person wrote on X on Friday, June 28.
“DAVID FOSTER’S A TOTAL CHAUVANISTIC PIG!! HE SHOULD COUNT HIS LUCKY STARS THAT A WOMAN MORE THAN 30 YRS. YOUNGER AGREED TO MARRY HIM. HE’S TALENTED BUT A TOTAL PR-CK. WHAT A DISGRACE!” another user wrote after seeing the video.
Others pointed out David has gone through four divorces, and Katharine is his fifth wife.
“It’s almost hard to believe four women have divorced this asshole. Will there be another divorce or a young beautiful widow, or both? Maybe there’s #6 wife that hasn’t been born yet,” one user wrote on X while getting in a dig about David’s penchant for younger wives.
Katharine became David’s fifth wife when the pair married on June 18, 2019. The initially met when he appeared on her season of Idol, but the couple didn’t become romantic until 2017. They welcomed their first and only child, son Rennie David Foster, in February 2021.
Another X user blasted David’s treatment for former wife Yolanda Hadid, who had her breast implants removed when the pair were still married, calling David “a real piece of work imo.”
During a January 2016 episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, the film composer famously dissed Yolanda’s new body, telling Lisa Vanderpump, “Let’s just say this, Ken has better tits than her now,” referring to her husband, Ken Todd. The scene appeared to have been filmed before the Yolanda and David filed for divorce in 2015.
David calling Katharine fat was particularly cruel, as she has been open about suffering from the eating disorder bulimia when she was younger.
“When I made it onto American Idol, I knew that food – my eating disorder – was the one thing really holding me back,” she told People in 2006 after appearing on the talent competition, where she was the runner up to winner Taylor Hicks.
She continued, “I was bingeing my whole life away for days at a time So when I got on the show, I said, ‘You know what? I can do well in this competition. Let me give myself a chance and just get ahold of this thing.’”
“I knew I had put off going to a treatment center long enough – I’d been struggling with bulimia since I was 17,” Kat told the publication. “Growing up in Los Angeles and spending all those years in dance class, I’d been conscious of body image at a young age, and I went through phases of exercising compulsively and starving myself. Food was my crutch; it was how I dealt with emotions and uncomfortable situations.”
The California native sought treatment at an eating disorders center. She eventually lost 30 pounds in a healthy way. “That’s why I say American Idol saved my life, because if I hadn’t auditioned, I don’t think I would have gotten a handle on food,” she added.
