Karl Lagerfeld has defended his comments about Adele's weight when he previously called her ''a little too fat'' but insisted she needed to lose weight because she was ''a little roundish''.

The Chanel creative director - who has claimed his remarks calling the singer ''a little too fat'' were taken out of context - insists that although Adele is a ''beautiful girl'', she needed to lose weight because she was ''a little roundish''.

Speaking on CNN's 'Fashion: Backstage Pass', he said: ''I never said that she was fat, I said that she was a little roundish. A little roundish is not fat. But for such a beautiful girl, after that she lost eight kilo [17.6 pounds], so I think the message was not that bad.'' Following Karl's comments last year, Adele, 25, insisted she had never aspired to be stick-thin. She said: ''I'd lose weight if I was an actress and had to play a role where you're supposed to be 40 pounds lighter, but weight has nothing to do with my career.

''Even when I was signing [a contract], most of the industry knew if anyone ever dared say [lose weight] to me, they wouldn't be working with me.''