CMAT tells of ‘deep sadness’ over body shaming
By Pierra Willix, Press Association Senior Entertainment Reporter
CMAT has said she feels her ‘success is becoming tarnished’ by ongoing body shaming.
The Irish singer-songwriter played at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland last weekend; however, she has now detailed how her huge career milestones are being overshadowed.
Posting a lengthy statement on Instagram, the 30-year-old began by writing: “Hi everybody. This isn’t going to be a nice post so I decided to cushion the blow by leading with a picture where I look literally amazing.
“I have had insta/tiktok/twitter deleted from my phone for some time now for the preservation of my mental health, but the discourse this week appears to be so large that it has still gotten back to me. As such I felt compelled to wade in and speak for myself !!!”
The singer – whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson – then said it had been “very hard to try and describe how difficult the last few days” had been, before explaining why she had chosen to share a Substack article which she described as “summing up a lot of what is causing my deep sadness”.
She wrote: “It is literally so boring for me, a gorgeous genius, to keep having to yap on about how horribly I am treated because of my body. I would love to stop but I cannot because it keeps happening, at an accelerating and worsening pace as I become more famous.
“There is no relief from this – nobody can protect me or save me from this, and all that is demanded of me is more and more work as every environment I am placed in becomes more hostile.”
CMAT then said she wanted to point out to “some very well-meaning people” that she was “not being defiant”.
“I am not choosing to look like this or weigh this much as some kind of punk rock act of liberty. I simply have a body, one that I would of course like to change in order to fit in and avoid all of this abuse, but I have had extreme difficulty in doing so.
“I don’t get a say in whether or not I want to be brave, I simply have to sit here and take it.”
Despite facing ongoing abuse regarding her body, the singer said she was still “very happy and grateful” for her job and success.
She continued: “The feeling of seeing all your dreams come true after so many years of constant grinding towards them… chefs kiss. But the success is increasingly becoming tarnished by the fact that I would be allowed to enjoy it so much more if I was thin.”
CMAT concluded the post by signing off “with deep sadness, cmat”.
The singer’s statement was met with support from her fans, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor who said she found it “hard to read”.
She wrote: “But I also feel a fool as I see you being so glorious and wonderful and I didn’t understand how little things have changed. I actually thought things were better now.”
She said CMAT was “blazing a brilliant trail” and was “brilliant and completely true” to herself.
Following the release of Euro-Country last year, Cmat’s third album was nominated for the Mercury Prize and was last week named best album at the Ivor Novello Awards.
However, when making her debut at the Big Weekend two years ago, she revealed that comments had been disabled on a BBC post that included footage of her performance “because so many people were calling me fat”.
“I didn’t realise it was illegal to have a huge ass!” she joked at the time. “I am guilty as charged. It is time to lock me up and throw away the key.”
She then defiantly declared she was an “award-winning songwriter that has released two albums which were received to ‘universal acclaim’.”
