愛薇塔樂學英文

And Miss Franklin couldn't be happier. For the first time, she says, the real Aretha is on stage - a "big woman" who loves her food.

When she sang about Respect for the first time in 1967, Aretha Franklin was a svelte brunette. Forty years on, she is almost unrecognisable.

In a blonde wig, spilling out of a low-cut gown, a much larger Queen of Soul appeared at a gala dinner in Washington on Friday.

And Miss Franklin couldn't be happier. For the first time, she says, the real Aretha is on stage - a "big woman" who loves her food.

The 63-year-old has revealed she spent decades starving herself 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 told the Canyon News website.

"I definitely was never meant to be a modeltype walking down a runway - I'm just Aretha singing what she feels in her heart and soul. So far, people seem to understand..."

The audience at the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters gala dinner certainly seemed satisfied, giving the mother of four a standing ovation.

明星們都希望能擁有美好苗條的身形，然而美國靈魂歌後艾瑞莎·弗蘭克林卻與眾不同。她不但一點也不為自己胖胖的體形發愁，而且日前還公開表示，很樂意作個胖女人。

據《每日郵報》3月13日報導，1967年，當艾瑞莎·弗蘭克林首次唱響《尊重》（“Respect”）這支成名曲時，她還是個身材苗條的年輕女子。然而，差不多40年過去了，她現在的身材已和從前大不一樣。

上週五，當身穿低胸長裙，頭戴金色假髮的弗蘭克林出現在華盛頓一個慶祝宴會上時，人們看到的是一個體形肥碩的靈魂歌後。然而，這可能是弗蘭克林最開心的時刻。她第一次公開表示，真實的艾瑞莎就在舞臺上——她是個貪戀食物的“胖女人”。

報導說，現年63歲的弗蘭克林透露稱，為了保持苗條動人的身材，她一直忍饑挨餓幾十年。她說：“很長一段時間裡，我為了變成別人所期望的樣子遭受了很多痛苦”，“而我絕沒打算像天橋上的模特那樣輕盈漫步，我就是要唱出自己內心和靈魂所感的艾瑞莎。現在，人們似乎已經明白了……”

而那天前來參加美國黑人廣播學會慶祝宴會的觀眾顯然對弗蘭克林感到非常滿意，他們對她報以長時間的熱烈掌聲。