Opera has a fat-shaming problem — top singers explain why it’s so dangerous

Financial Times
June 2025

World-class performers confirm the industry is still obsessed with weight loss — despite some even losing their voices in the process.

While overt public fat-shaming can now generate outrage, it continues unabated behind the scenes. American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is a vocal supporter of size diversity on the opera stage. “I think in that era it was more blatant,” she says of the insults that Callas endured. “It’s still absolutely prevalent. There’s no question. But back then it was so normal for men, especially, to comment out loud on the size of women’s bodies that I can only imagine the pressures she must have felt to live up to an ideal that, quite frankly, in my opinion, is meant to keep women weak.”

Barton says she has lost count of the number of times directors, designers, teachers and conductors have pulled her aside to discuss weight loss; her tale is a common one, echoed by other singers interviewed for this article. Comments about weight often begin at conservatoires and persist throughout professional careers.

“I’m 43 years old,” says Barton. “I’ve been through the diet culture thing. I’ve come out on the other side and I’m now at the healthiest place of my life. And that’s not because I’m skinny; it’s because I’m paying attention to my cholesterol and my blood sugar and the numbers that actually do have an impact on my health. I’m also at the top of my career, but these messages continue to come from people who just have, quite honestly, no place trying to dictate how somebody else’s body should look.”

Read the full interview at Financial Times!