It’s devastating to have to even address this in 2026, but a pop star is being mercilessly bullied and downright abused for their body. Yes, this is still happening, and I’m shattered by it.
CMAT, real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, is a brilliant young music star, if you didn’t already know. There’s no denying her excellence, and her most recent performance saw her absolutely own the stage at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend.
But her big moment has been tarnished by – I’m going to say it – repulsive people leaving repulsive comments about her body, mainly her weight.
It has become so incessantly cruel, CMAT herself has now replied to the abuse with a heartbreaking letter about her ‘deep sadness’ that made me cry.
The 30-year-old Irish singer-songwriter dazzles audiences with her energetic performances, addictive songs, outstanding voice and downright fun vibe, and has rightly earned her place as one of the greatest musicians of today.
She actually IS the moment. She’s one of the best we’ve got right now, a vibrant breath of fresh air, fun, charismatic, camp – all boxes ticked.
However, despite her excellent show on Sunday at the BBC festival in Sunderland, the Euro-Country singer was obliterated on social media by people utterly transfixed by her weight, making cruel remarks and contaminating the space with vile comments, none of which need to be repeated here.
What makes this more miserable is that just two years ago, after performing at BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend in 2024, CMAT revealed the BBC had disabled comments on a video of her performing at the gig ‘because so many people were calling me fat’.
Last year, she also released a song in response to the strange hatred of her body called Take a Sexy Picture of Me. This is not her first rodeo, sadly.
Following the latest barrage of online garbage, CMAT has now shared an upsetting response on Instagram.
She sounds like someone at the end of her rope, exhausted by the constant narrative around her body. Which, by the way, is a normal, average-sized woman’s body.
On Thursday evening, sharing grabs from a Substack post about the whole ordeal (written by Front Row Feels), CMAT revealed that she has had Instagram, TikTok and X deleted from her 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 !!!
‘It’s been very hard to try and describe how difficult the last few days since the BBCR1 Big Weekend have been, but I came across an essay on Substack by a blog called Front Row Feels which really has summed up a lot of what is causing my deep sadness, so I decided to add it into my post.’
‘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.’
She went on to say that some ‘very well-meaning people’ call her defiant, but that she is not.
‘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.’
It’s not a call to action from CMAT, rather just a ‘please understand how awful this is for me’ message, and it’s her sign-off that had my eyes watering.
CMAT finished up: ‘With all that being said, I am at the same time very very happy and grateful every day to have the job that I have. 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. With deep sadness – CMAT.’
How utterly harrowing, that a musician is forced to not only address people bullying her for ‘being fat’, but that it’s now actually impacting her enjoyment of her career.
The response to the post was vast, with the likes of Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Clara Amfo and Lauren Laverne sharing their support along with hundreds of fans.
But I fear this is an issue that isn’t going to go away. In a world that is falling apart, competitive thinness is back. I can’t believe we’re back here after all the years of body positivity that started to move the dial.
And, while there is so much genuine support and love out there for CMAT, and while the abuse won’t ruin her career directly, if she keeps getting chipped away at like this, it could make her decide to throw in the towel one day. And why not? Who wants to be endlessly shouted at online for being ‘not a size 8’ or daring to have soft skin on her legs?
I just hope that CMAT can block out the noise going forward, because I don’t think the bullies are going to stop, and the world really does need her.
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