Irish singer Catherine Harding has said a security guard "berated" her and her daughter after an encounter with Chappell Roan at a hotel in São Paulo, Brazil.
Roan has since said the pair had not approached her and that the guard was not part of her personal security team.
Harding's husband, former Premier League footballer Jorginho, criticised Roan on Instagram on Saturday, saying security had spoken "in an extremely aggressive manner" to his wife and daughter after they saw the singer at the hotel. He said the incident left his 11-year-old daughter upset and in tears.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Harding said her daughter did not have her phone and did not approach Roan after spotting her while the family was having breakfast in the same hotel.
"She literally didn’t do anything, she just looked at her and smiled," Harding said.
"She came back and she actually said to me, 'Mum, I don’t know if it’s her.’ Because obviously, with her costumes and everything, she looks a little bit different."
Harding said a security guard then approached them in an "aggressive tone" and began to "berate and scold" them while they were eating breakfast.
"Even if she did send him or she didn’t send him, I don’t know, for me it felt like it really overstepped a boundary," she said.
Roan later said on Instagram Stories that neither Harding nor her daughter had approached her and that the security guard involved was not part of her personal detail.
"I didn’t even see a woman and a child. No-one came up to me, no one bothered me, I was just sitting at breakfast in my hotel," she said.
"I did not ask the security guard to go up and talk to this mother and child, I did not.
"They did not come up to me. They weren’t doing anything. It’s unfair for security to just assume someone doesn’t have good intentions when they have no reason to believe, because there’s no action even taken."
The 28-year-old singer added: "I do not hate people who are fans of my music. I do not hate children, that is crazy.
"I’m sorry to the mother and child that someone was assuming something, that you would do something, and that if you felt uncomfortable, that makes me really sad. You did not deserve that."
Harding, who is married to former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho, said the family had bought tickets to Roan’s show in São Paulo as a birthday present for their daughter.
She said she believed the man involved was not hotel security, but someone who "looks after artists".
"I don’t know if it was her personal security guard, but he was with her. So that is all I know," Harding said.
"Did she send him to do it? Again, I don’t know. Look, I would like to hope not. At the same time, I think that you have a responsibility, when you are a celebrity, to make sure, I guess, that the people that work for you and that act on your behalf are acting on your behalf."
Following Jorginho’s post, Roan received criticism online, including from Rio deputy mayor Eduardo Cavaliere, according to multiple reports. Roan, whose real name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, previously spoke in 2024 about the need for boundaries between celebrities and fans.
The Grammy-winning singer is known for tracks including Pink Pony Club, Good Luck, Babe!, Hot To Go! and Red Wine Supernova.
Source: Press Association
