The mother of the 11-year-old girl involved in the Chappell Roan controversy has now spoken out, offering a detailed account of the hotel encounter that has fueled an ongoing public dispute. Catherine Harding—who also goes by Cat Cavelli and is married to Brazilian soccer player Jorginho—addressed the situation in an Instagram video on March 22, stating that her daughter “didn’t do anything.”
Harding said she felt compelled to clarify what happened after the story gained traction online. “I didn’t realize it would get this crazy,” she said. According to her, the incident began during breakfast at a São Paulo hotel when she and her daughter noticed a woman they believed might be Roan.
Her daughter briefly walked toward a nearby area to confirm, then returned without speaking or interacting. “She didn’t have her phone, she didn’t try to take a picture, she didn’t try to approach her,” Harding said. “She literally didn’t do anything.”
She alleged that a man she believed to be associated with the singer approached them shortly after and spoke in a “very aggressive tone,” accusing her daughter of being disrespectful and threatening to file a complaint with the hotel.
Harding said she could not confirm whether he was officially part of Roan’s team, but added, “This security guard was not a security guard of the hotel… I don’t know if he was her personal security guard, but he was with her.”
She also raised broader concerns about accountability, noting that public figures are responsible for how those around them act on their behalf.
The comments arrived amid a fast-moving series of developments surrounding the situation. Hours after Harding’s video circulated, Roan appeared to reference her team during her Lollapalooza Brazil set, telling the crowd, “Thank you to my crew, and my security, and everyone behind the scenes. This takes a lot of people,” after noting the show marked the final stop of her current tour.
Roan later addressed the incident directly in a statement shared via Instagram Stories, denying any involvement. “I did not ask the security guard to go up and talk to this mother and child. I did not,” she wrote, adding, “I didn’t even see a woman and a child.”
She also acknowledged that the situation should not have escalated, stating that it was “unfair for security to just assume someone doesn’t have good intentions.”
