Singer CMAT says 'success tarnished' by body-shaming

Irish singer CMAT has shared her ‘deep sadness’ about the body shaming abuse she received after performing at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend.

The 30-year-old was part of the line-up at the annual event held in Sunderland last weekend, and in a lengthy post on Instagram, she said her ‘success is being tarnished’.

She wrote: “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 - said it was ‘hard to try and describe how difficult the last few days’ has been since the Radio 1 event, adding that a Substack article she shared ‘summed up a lot of what is causing her deep sadness’.

'There is no relief from this'

“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," she said. "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 point out to 'some very well-meaning people' that she was 'not being defiant'.

She said: “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.”

'The success is increasingly becoming tarnished by the fact that I would be allowed to enjoy it so much more if I was thin'

She ended her post saying: “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.”

Comments on the post appear to have been turned off, but singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor is quoted as being among the people offering her support, saying said she had found the social post 'hard to read', and adding: “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.”

Her third studio album Euro-Country was nominated for the 2025 Mercury Prize, and it was named best album at the Ivor Novello Awards this year.

Following 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'.

She said at the time: “I didn’t realise it was illegal to have a huge ass! I am guilty as charged. It is time to lock me up and throw away the key.”

In a statement to LADbible, BBC Radio 1 said: “We fully support CMAT and condemn any toxic commentary aimed at her.

“She performed a phenomenal set at Radio 1’s Big Weekend, which received an amazing reaction from the crowd in Sunderland and from those who’ve enjoyed it on iPlayer and Sounds.”

LADbible understands that the BBC is in contact with the singer and her team, offering her full support. It is also understood that comments on Radio 1’s social posts featuring her from the Big Weekend have been disabled.