Tuesday, 4 December 2007

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OMG! What's happened to Aretha Franklin?

Soul legend appears to have lost battle with weight

Aretha Franklin shocked fans when she turned up to an awards do looking a little larger than life.

The soul legend, 65, struggled to keep her weight in check for years but no longer believes in diets.

She stepped out for the Kennedy Centre Honours bash in Washington wearing a vast yellow, and green chiffon dress - which only accentuated her super-large figure.

Aretha is definitely a little rounder than when she become a star in the 60s.

But pals say the soul diva is proud of her fuller frame.

'Aretha arrived as a vision in bright yellow,' a source tells the Daily Mail. 'It was a real statement dress and she definitely wasn't trying to cower away or go unnoticed.

'She was on fine form and turned out to be the life and soul of the party. She is proud of her more womanly physique.'

Aretha has admitted she no longer tries to stay slim.

'For a long time I suffered so much trying to be what other people expected me to be and look like,' she said.

'I definitely was never meant to be a model type walking down a runway - I'm just Aretha singing what she feels in her heart and soul.'

Fern Britton - the incredible shrinking woman>>