David Foster and Katharine McPhee have been married for five years now, and have a son, Rennie, who is three. David also has five adult daughters from previous marriages. David and Katharine have always been, how shall I say, a curious couple. They have a 34-year age difference, and he was a mentor to her when she was on American Idol as a 21-year-old newbie. Now a video has resurfaced that harkens back to those American Idol days. The happy couple are at some public function, and a photo of Katharine on Idol is projected on the back of the stage. Katharine refers to herself as “chubby.” Then David — the man who bemoaned being known for RHOBH instead of his Grammys — chimes in with, “Oh yeah, you were fat.” What. An. A**hole.
In the video, McPhee — who has struggled with bulimia — is speaking on stage while Foster sits at a piano.
The background screen shows a photo of McPhee when she was a contestant on American Idol. As the singer explains, “[People] may not know, we met 17, almost 18 years ago, when I was a little chubby, and cheerful, contestant on American Idol.”
Gesturing to the older photo of herself, McPhee, now 40, says, “Look at me smiling.”
“Oh yeah,” Foster, now 74, says. “You were fat.”
In the clip, McPhee’s hands drop to her sides and her shoulders slump while the audience laughs.
“I was a little chubby, okay?” she says.
“It’s true,” he replies.
“I was just young,” says McPhee, who was 21 when she was on American Idol.
The Masked Singer alum has told PEOPLE that at one point during her struggle with bulimia, she was forcing herself to vomit as many as seven times a day, which she likened to “putting a sledgehammer to your vocal cords.”
McPhee sought treatment at Los Angeles’s Eating Disorder Center of California, where she spent three months undergoing both group and individual therapy, six days a week.
It’s her experience with disordered eating that prompted her fans to sound off on the video, with one saying, “It’s very hard to watch.”
“It really just goes to show the way he views women,” said The Pop Apologists.
“If he can say that in front of a crowd, imagine the insensitive comments in private,” said another fan.
This isn’t the first time Foster’s remarks on McPhee’s body have come under fire. In 2021 the Smash alum defended him after he wrote “What baby!” on an Instagram photo she shared of herself in a bikini, following the birth of son Rennie, now 3.
“I lost this baby weight without dieting. Zero. Diets are the worst and I’ve had zero pressure from anyone. I’ve let my body do its thing and found a great workout. That’s it. And guess what? I’ll probably gain weight again at some point too. Who cares? BUT people freaking out about what my husband captioned seriously get a life,” McPhee wrote.
Even so, the singer has shared that relapsing is always a concern — especially after she became pregnant in 2020.
“I was suddenly so obsessed with food, starting from this first trimester, and I had such a distortion of the way that I looked,” she said on the podcast Dr. Berlin’s Informed Pregnancy Podcast, where she added that she gained about 40 lbs. during her pregnancy.
She said she sought treatment from a psychiatrist and learned “that it’s really common for women who have struggled with eating disorders in the past to have almost a relapse, in some sense, when they enter pregnancy.”
Since then, she’s said, “What I didn’t expect was to have the baby and then be so at peace with my body.”
McPhee continued: “I had this, wow, like this huge appreciation of what my body had just done and given me that I wish that I’d given myself a little bit more of that grace through the pregnancy.”
First of all, I’m glad that pregnancy connected Katharine to a newfound love and appreciation of her body. That must be a very healing experience. As for her husband, here’s what I have to say: I don’t have any objections to age-gap relationships on principle. Each couple is different and brings a unique set of life circumstances to the table. Is it cringey in some cases? Absolutely. Was David’s argument a couple years ago that they’re “like Celine and René” more creepy than comforting? I think so. What leaps out to me is that David made that heinous comment of his beautiful, younger wife when he’s the father of five daughters. A man who thinks it’s ok to say to any woman, let alone his wife, “you were fat,” is not a man I want to know.
Photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon, Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon, Getty and via Instagram
Gross gross gross. It’s a no for me, dog.
I don’t care about the age gap as long as there isn’t also a power dynamic – which there is in this relationship if he was her mentor!
I also find his comments gross, not just as the father of daughters but of a son as well (any child!). What are the messages that boy child will learn about women’s bodies? Nothing healthy, that’s for sure. And the fact that he’s saying that in such a public setting lets you know he’s probably an abusive monster behind closed doors.
Sorry, Catherine can’t hear you: his money’s stuffed in her ears.
He looks like he has that waxy, old man smell.
I just saw her picture from American Idol. She was not fat!!!!
The relationship bothers me bc she seems to strive for embodiment of trophy wife. Eating disorders often involve control, perfection, neurotic tendencies so it may be another path to that for her unconsciously. So it red flags to me.
He’s not from her generation so he is a hellava lots tone deaf and clueless chauvinist
That’s the thing. it’s disgusting to say, either way, don’t misunderstand – but to call her fat (clearly derisively) when she had a completely normal looking body is SO gross. If we know about her history of ED’s, he does too. More red flags than a Formula 1 race.
I wonder if his five daughters even talk to him.
I wouldn’t chalk it up to generational thinking. My father and father-in-law among the many other men of that generation that I personally know *would never* speak about women the way David Foster has in the past or present. Real Housewives David Foster spent time haranguing and bemoaning his then-wife’s implant removal on RHOBH; Yolanda was The Almond Mom, but it was clear that her entire life depended on being physically pleasing to David Foster. And now with the numerous creepy and fetishistic statements he’s made about Katherine McPhee, it’s clear that this entitled, walking gonad of a man would be this way regardless of his age.
Hahahahaha! He does!!
I hate him. He is the problem having been married 5 times dumping each wife for a new one. I like his younger daughters the 3 Foster sisters who have a clothing line Favorite Daughter and had a TV show a while ago called barely famous. They love him despite the fact he was more a father to Linda Thompson’s boys from Caitlyn Jenner than to them and probably it’s a fact he is way more a father to his only son than he ever was to them.
Mr. Jaded knows one of his ex-wives and she has NOTHING good to say about him, nor does their daughter, who he has basically ignored. He’s a classic “I’m too good to mingle with the peons” famous guy.
She was chubby teen, lost her baby fat and is stunning. He was clearly a pimple covered teen and is now a pock-marked, wrinkly old man. Who has the last laugh now?
I’m sure she told him about her eating disorder so for him to call her fat is just cruel and it makes me wonder what else he says to her in private.
She should pack her and her son’s things and leave this old … (instead of the dots, write your chosen term for this old …). She doesn’t need him for anything and I’m sure she’ll be fine without him. Save yourself and your child K.!
I once dated a guy who was raised to believe that any remotely normal body outside of a washboard-ab size 2-4 was “fat”. I think it stemmed from his unbelievably thin mother constantly calling herself fat.
There were subtle comments directed at me, sure, but it was something that came up in conversation about a shocking number of people/topics. Almost like a core belief of his life.
My self esteem had never been lower than when I was with him. Thank goodness it ended and I never had kids with him.
I had a “friend” when I was young who delighted in telling me I was fat. I weighed 117 at the time. I’m 69 now, and can’t believe the shit I used to take. No more.
I am filled with rage. He will forever be a toxic, disgusting, coffin-dodger w@nker for those comments. Opinions about anyone’s size are completely inappropriate. Also, “chubby” is just a euphemism for “fat”, and those who have struggled with disordered eating know that. Hearing “chubby”, “fat”, whatever else along those lines, is harmful. It takes a long time to get over years and years of weight-related comments and disordered eating. People should just STOP COMMENTING ON WEIGHT!!
The only proper response for a man to say when his wife says anything AT ALL about her body is, “You look beautiful, honey.” What a d**k.
My husband got us tickets for their joint concert when they were here in Atlanta… the banter within their set itself is cringey. The way they talk about her first marriage/his relationship to them as a couple (DF performed at their wedding apparently): unnecessarily trashing her first husband (when I can’t remember him ever speaking publicly about her post divorce…) and making backhanded compliments about her improved “intelligence/decision making” were gross. I can hear his pompous ass saying this, as well as her excusing it
I’m shocked that this guy is a jerk. Shocked, I say.
I struggled with weight for years after having been severely anorexic as a teen. My husband never, ever has commented on my weight. He’s always told me I’m beautiful. This is one of the many reasons I knew he’d be a great dad, and he is.
Foster is a toxic a*hole.
Oof. Prince Harry’s “surrogate father” seems just as insensitive and tone-deaf as his real father. Wasn’t Diana’s bulimia triggered when Charles called her chubby?
Just wait for the DM to remember that fact about Foster and Harry, I’m sure they’ll published a dozen of articles about that quote saying it’s Harry and Meghan’s fault.
What an utter piece of shite. He was a real prick on RHOBH, FWIW … especially to his then-wife Yolanda.
How in the actual f could he make a comment like that to anyone who he’s aware has an ED who has expressed concern about relapsing, let alone his own wife? Insensitive doesn’t even begin to describe this.
He is absolutely abhorrent. I cannot stand him and have felt that way since RHBH. HE IS VILE.
He’s a creep with unrealistic perfectionist standards for women. Didn’t he dump Yolanda after she got sick with Lyme disease? Katharine should watch her back too, he’s definitely got dark negative energy all over him. I hope the prenup works in her favor.
Says the saggy balled man, the audacity floors me sometimes.
Alarm bells rang for me when I saw an interview with Katherine at their home not long after she gave birth . ( can’t remember what show the interview was for ) Anyway she was answering questions , but one answer she looked anxiously around to see where her husband was and to make sure he didn’t hear she whispered the answer. It screamed control issues & fear and that something was off in the husband & wife dynamic.
I can lose weight but you old man cannot get younger
I may be fat but you’re old and ain’t no coming back from that
🎯
I remember her on Idol, she was not even remotely overweight. I thought she was quite beautiful, and still is, and had a nice voice. I’ll never understand why she ended up with him.
Millions and millions and millions of reasons why.
😂🎯$$$$$$$🎯
He’s a real catch that one.
Ick. Ick. Icky man. She deserves better.
Did anybody watch David treat Yolanda when she got sick? Katherine better hope he doesn’t trade up for a younger one and she maintains her health.
I’m curious as to why the audience laughed when he called her fat.
Probably out of shock that he said it, maybe, hopefully that she’d be ready with a retort back (obviously not).
He’s always been an egotistical jerk. I’d love to see Katherine get away from him with her adorable son. She would probably worry about being ruined professionally if not personally, DF would be vindictive no doubt.
Hopefully she has a gorgeous, intelligent side piece, and darkly laughs at his misogynistic shade while spending his money and watching the clock tick tick tick down on his existence.
Yeah he is a creep. Read Linda Thompson’s book and none of this is surprising. She was with him for 18 years. He was a jealous, sexist and inconsiderate jerk. I GUARANTEE he is no different with this wife.