McPhee and Foster met in 2006 on 'American Idol' but didn't start dating until 2017, eventually tying the knot in 2019
Katharine McPhee's fans are sticking up for her after a clip of her husband calling her "fat" resurfaced online.
The original clip was posted on TikTok in March 2023 and was recorded during one of their joint concerts. In the clip, McPhee and her husband, David Foster, are telling the audience about how they first met.
She opened the conversation by reminding the crowd they met in 2006, "when [she] was a little chubby and cheerful contestant on ‘American Idol.’" McPhee competed on season 5 of the competition show, coming in second place, and Foster appeared as a guest mentor during the season.
"Oh, yeah. You were fat," Foster quickly agreed. McPhee was taken aback by his response and shot back, saying, "I was a little chubby, OK? I was just young."
Foster is receiving backlash from McPhee's fans after a clip of him calling her "fat" resurfaced on TikTok. (Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Elton John AIDS Foundation)
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In the new clip posted by a TikTok user, the social media user explained it's possible Foster "was being sarcastic" when he called her fat. However, the user noted Foster "agreed when she said that she was chubby," noting that is also not OK. The social media user added that rather than Foster agreeing with her "when she said that about herself," Foster "could have said literally anything else, and it would have been better."
People in the comments section seemed to agree with the TikTok user.
"This made my heart hurt," one wrote. "This beautiful girl was NEVER fat. You don't call your wife fat. As a joke or serious."
"OMG I cannot believe he said that???," another user wrote, while a third chimed in with, "Omg. The way my jaw dropped."
The "Smash" star has been open about her struggles with her weight in the past, revealing she has previously battled eating disorders, including bulimia.
Following the birth of her son in March 2021, the singer told "Dr. Berlin's Informed Pregnancy Podcast" her body image became a huge issue and "suddenly came up in a way that hadn't been present in a long time."
McPhee has been open about her previous battles with eating disorders. (Chris Polk/FilmMagic for Fox Television Network)
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"But feeling like there was a relapse after getting pregnant was really shocking and upsetting and concerning for me because I was suddenly so obsessed with food, starting from this first trimester, and I had such a distortion of the way that I looked," McPhee explained.
After speaking with a psychiatrist, she learned it is "really common for women who have struggled with eating disorders in the past to have almost a relapse" in one way or another during pregnancy.
"And it made me feel so much better that I wasn't alone in that headspace ... by just meeting with him and him talking me through it," McPhee said. "It wasn't like he gave me a bottle of pills and said, 'Here's your pills for anxiety.' That's not what he did when he met with me, but he was just talking through it and asking questions."
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McPhee is Foster's fifth wife. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
The two began dating in 2017, getting engaged in 2018 and married in 2019. The relationship prompted many fans to raise their eyebrows due to their 34-year age gap. McPhee was previously married to Nick Cokas from 2008 to 2016, and Foster had been married four times prior to marrying McPhee, most recently to Yolanda Hadid, from 2011 to 2017.
Fox News Digital has reached out to a rep for McPhee for comment.
Lori Bashian is an entertainment production assistant for Fox News Digital.
