[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Fellas, here’s what NOT to do when complimenting your baby momma…
David Foster and Katharine McPhee welcomed their first child together (his sixth) back in February 2021. Since then, the new momma has premiered a new Netflix show, returned to American Idol as a mentor, and appeared alongside her husband as contestants on The Masked Singer. But on Tuesday, David took to Instagram to celebrate a different accomplishment.
Related: Katharine Says David Was Annoyed At Her For Revealing Their Baby’s Name!
The music legend posted a pic of his wife lounging in the grass in a bikini with the caption:
“ what baby!”
Of course, Katharine does look gorgeous — that snapback is incredible. But it’s the framing of the caption that some followers had an issue with. Commenter call-outs included:
“‘Uncomfortable antiquated compliments’ on aisle 1”
“Yeah, let’s perpetuate the unhealthy narrative that women need to be back to or smaller than their pre-pregnancy size post partum”
“Read the room. Gross.”
“Yep let’s make other women feel like crap cuz their baby body doesn’t look like that”
Another commenter wrote:
“Saying what baby is like saying to women I don’t know what all the fuss is about my wife can lose the baby weight. She’s very much lucky she has money. Not everyone is so lucky and sometimes childbirth does so much damage it takes years to recover. I know personally as I’m still having physical therapy after my son last year”
Man, that’s a good point.
To make matters worse, Katharine has been open about suffering from an eating disorder (specifically “a bad pattern of bulimia” dating back to her teens). Back in March the singer revealed on Dr. Berlin’s Informed Pregnancy Podcast that her issues around food were “the hardest part of pregnancy.”
She admitted:
“The biggest challenge for me through the pregnancy was really the body issue stuff just suddenly came up in a way that hadn’t been present in a long time.”
The 37-year-old explained:
“I was really ravenous the first trimester. I would get so hungry… The food hunger would come on so quickly. In your brain you’re like, ‘Is this just the eating disorder version of me? Or is this actually my body?’ It’s just suddenly the cues felt really different and I didn’t know how to interpret them.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLkQzH4repn/
Related: Maren Morris Talks ‘Pressure’ To ‘Snap Back’ In Post-Baby Body Lingerie Pic
Thankfully, she told People around the same time that she didn’t feel “this crazy pressure yet” to bounce back to her pre-baby body, despite David’s troubling comment suggesting otherwise. She shared on the podcast:
“I weathered it and I’m really grateful I’m at the end of it, that I feel this good. I look in the mirror and I’m like, ‘Yeah, my legs, thighs, arms are a little bit thicker, but I’m OK with it.’ I’m really OK with it and I’m proud of myself.”
We truly hope the Smash alum is feeling as strong and healthy as she looks. Unfortunately, the kind of observation that David made very publicly could easily trigger the body issues Katharine referred to on the podcast. Pregnancy and giving birth are life altering experiences, and it shouldn’t be treated as a badge of honor to erase any signs of that experience from your body.
What do YOU think of David’s post?
[Image via MEGA/WENN & David Foster/Instagram]