David Foster and wife Katharine McPhee have broken their silence about the death of their nanny, Yadira Calito.
The couple opened up about their grief nearly a month after the caregiver’s death during an interview with Entertainment Tonight on 14 September. When the interviewer expressed his condolences to the pair, after the loss of Calito – who cared for the couple’s two-year-old son, Rennie – Foster replied: “It’s been tough for her,” while looking over at his wife. McPhee went on to nod her head in agreement with her spouse.
“Yeah, it’s been tough. She’s managing,” Foster continued, before his wife added: “Thank you.”
On 15 August, TMZ was the first to report that Calito was killed when an 84-year-old woman behind the wheel of a Toyota RAV4 crashed into the reception area of Hamer Toyota in Los Angeles. The news came days after the Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement about the incident, noting that the “driver accelerated for unknown reasons and collided with several people who were inside” the car dealership.
The 55-year-old nanny had “sustained fatal injuries” during the collision, before she “was pronounced deceased at the hospital”.
At the time of the traffic collision, LAPD also shared that two employees, aged 23 and 35, were treated “for non-life threatening injuries” at the hospital and were “expected to make a full recovery”.
Investigators also said that the driver, who is from Mission Hills, had taken her car into the dealership for a service and accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brakes. No arrests have been made following the incident.
One day after the police report was shared, McPhee posted a statement to Instagram to announce that she was missing the rest of her husband’s tour in Asia, where she’s been performing as a guest, due to a family emergency.
“Dearest Jakarta fans, it’s with heavy heart I announce I have to miss our final two shows of our Asian run,” she wrote. “David and I have had a horrible tragedy in our family and at least one of us needs to get back home to our family. Please know how sorry I am and how much I wish to return someday and perform for you all. Love, Katharine.”
At the time, many famous faces took to the comments of the post to send McPhee kind messages.
“Sending my love and prayers for your family,” Masked Singer judge Nicole Scherzinger wrote, while Linda Thompson added: “Sending you and David love, & hoping that everything is okay.”
Foster is set to return to his tour on 1 November in Michigan, according to his official website. Along with touring again, Foster and his wife will also be releasing a new album next month in honour of the holiday season, which is called Christmas Songs.
Foster and McPhee made their official debut as a couple in 2018, before tying the knot the next year. They welcomed their first child, Rennie, together in February 2021. Since then, they’ve continued to open up about their child one day following in his parents’ footsteps.
During an interview with ET in October, Foster acknowledged that, although Rennie has developed an interest in drumming, it’s still soon to tell if he’ll become a musician.
“You know when you look at somebody like Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, their kids are very talented... but they’re not tennis players, so we don’t know,” he said “He’s so young.”
McPhee also agreed, adding: “It makes sense that he’d be musical, but we’re not really sure. He’s certainly obsessed with the drums! Or imaginary drums, for that matter.”
Earlier this year, the former American Idol contestant gushed over her relationship with her son and husband, before noting that she was open to growing her family. She also reflected on how she first met Foster when she was on the singing competition show in 2006, over a decade before they started dating.
“We can’t believe the ride that we’ve been on. That show [American Idol], I look back on it more fondly because of the fact that it gave me my husband and my first child,” she said, during an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, before later adding: “I would love to have another baby. But we’ll see, we’re not in any crazy rush or anything. But I hope so. I love being a mom.”
