Before the spotlight widened beyond her local church, Celestine Donkor was already fighting battles behind the scenes.
The Ghanaian gospel singer has disclosed that just as her name began gaining traction, she was hit with a stinging assertion that plus-size musicians do not produce hit songs. The remark, she admitted, unsettled her deeply and nearly pushed her to abandon the very gift that set her apart.
In a recent interview with TV3, Donkor revisited her early days in the choir, where her vocal strength made her a standout. Applause from congregants often came with visible rewards, but admiration from the pews sometimes bred resentment among her peers.
“That time I was young and very talented… So, I got a lot of love… When you’re singing and your song is ‘giving,’ they throw money on you. So, I’m always that girl who receives a lot of money from the congregation. I got a lot of hate among people from the choir.
“One of the things that is very common in choir is when somebody stands out and the person is good, he’s always the one leading; he’s always people’s favourite. They get that kind of hate,” she recalled.
While she navigated envy within the choir, a more personal critique surfaced when she ventured into solo ministry. According to her, some industry voices advised her to lose weight, arguing that her body type would limit her chances of delivering a breakthrough record.
“One of the feedback I got was that I should lose weight because plus sizes can’t be a hit. And that really was hard for me because I’m plus-size. I’ve always been big since I was born,” she said.
The suggestion lingered longer than she expected. Creative energy that once went into writing and rehearsing began shifting toward attempts to reshape her appearance.
“It crushed me for some time. I stopped thinking about writing and singing. I was so focused on losing weight to appeal to people,” she added.
Clarity returned in an unexpected moment. Watching a performance video of American gospel singer Tasha Cobbs ministering “Break Every Chain” altered her perspective. The powerful delivery challenged the narrative she had absorbed about size and success.
“At that time, she was bigger than I was. So, I put whatever I was doing to lose weight because it wasn’t even working anyway. So that video from Tasha Cobbs broke that thing over my life, and I picked up from where I left,” Celestine Donkor revealed.
Watch her remarks below.
