Howard Stern is under fire for comments he made about Gabourey Sidibe's weight on his radio show. INSIDE EDITION talked to Sidibe's mother and gets her surprising reaction.
A message for Howard Stern from the mother of Precious star Gabourey Sidibe, "Get a life!" Her mother, Alice Tan Ridley, is speaking out about the shock jock's attack on her daughter's appearance.
"There's the most enormous, fat, black chick I've ever seen. That Gabourey Sidibe. She is enormous. I mean, she is enormous. Good lord, what does she eat? I mean, it's so sad. You just wanna say to her, 'Listen, honey, now you got a little money in the bank, go get yourself thin. You're gonna die,' " said Stern.
But believe it or not, Sidibe's mother brushed off the controversy as she spoke to INSIDE EDITION's Megan Alexander.
"He can see. You can see. I can see Gabby is a big girl. She's a big woman. So what's wrong with that? She's not like everybody else in the world," she said.
Stern's rant came just hours after Sidibe's Cinderella moment at the Oscars® where she was nominated for Best Actress after her breakout performance. The 26-year-old looked like she was having a blast posing like a pro on the red carpet. With her mother right by her side, Sidibe had tears in her eyes while being honored with a touching tribute from Oprah Winfrey.
"When we look at you we see a true American Cinderella on the threshold of a brilliant career," said Winfrey.
But Stern and his co-host Robin Quivers clearly disagree.
"It's just ludicrous, 'cause everyone, everyone is pretending that she is going to be part of show business," Stern said.
"And she's going to be around," added Quivers.
"And she's never going to be in another movie. And, she really should have gotten the Best Actress award, because she's never gonna have another shot. What movie is she gonna be in? The Blind Side Two? She can be the football player. She can take out the whole front line," said Stern.
Stern even goes after Oprah for her words of encouragement to Gabby, saying, "She's telling an enormous woman the size of a planet that she's going to have a career."
Alice says, "I don't see him giving jobs out to anybody so why should we care what he says? He might not hire her but someone else will."
And in fact it seems Gabby's career is far from over. She has already filmed another movie and she's working on a new Showtime series called The C Word.
After coming under fire, Stern took to the airwaves on his Sirius/XM Satellite Radio show the next day and defended his remarks. But he made it clear that he's not backing down.
"I did enjoy her performance. I have nothing against her, but the fact is, that I'm just trying to say, she's enormous. The girl's got tremendous problems, and she, she, she needs help. That's all," said Stern.
Sidibe's mother says the world will see plenty more of her daughter with her head held high, no matter what anyone says.
"Do you think it ever hurts her feelings?" asked Alexander.
"I hope not. You're going to be who you are no matter what anyone has to say about it. They didn't make you. Don't let them break you," said Alice.
