Katharine McPhee's Silent Treatment

Mon., Jul. 17, 2006 7:00 AM PDT by Sarah Hall

Katharine McPhee has spoken. Well, written.

In a letter posted on fan site KatharineFans.com last week, the American Idol runner-up, who's currently sitting out the Idols Live tour due to a case of laryngitis and bronchitis, attempted to debunk some of the rumors circulating about her.

Numerous Idol forums have debated endless conspiracy theories about the second-place finisher's absence from the tour, including the completely unsubstantiated rumor that McPhee had pulled out entirely due to a disagreement with 19 Entertainment.

Much was also made over the fact that McPhee was apparently well enough to attend a Cosmo Girl photo shoot two weeks ago, the day after the tour kicked off without her in Manchester, New Hampshire.

But according to McPhee herself, she plans to rejoin the tour when her doctor gives her the go-ahead, and she was indeed well enough to sit for the magazine--she just couldn't talk.

"I have heard a rumor that I will be missing the entire tour, I can assure you that that is completely false," McPhee wrote. "I am looking to join the tour around the 21st. That is the doctors [sic] orders, not mine.

"I want people to know that I am NOT bed ridden. I'm no longer contagious. I don't have to be a prisoner in my L.A. home. My management company is still trying to utilize this down time."

In other words, she may not be able to sing, but McPhee is participating in other work-related activities that include "meetings with song writers, listening to demos from all different studios and lots of late night movies!!!!"

McPhee's letter was posted on KatharineFans.com by Chad Hensley, who operates the fan site in his free time. In an email interview with E! Online, Hensley said he started the site after seeing McPhee's San Francisco audition on American Idol.

"Katharine started singing and her voice consumed me, and I was completely focused on her amazing voice," Hensley recalled. "Before 'God Bless The Child' was over, I was registering a domain for Kat at GoDaddy.com."

Hensley initially communicated with McPhee's mother, Peisha, but once Idol ended, he said McPhee began communicating with her fans on the site herself by writing letters and even answering questions submitted by the site's members.

"She put thought and her heart into all of her answers," Hensley said of McPhee. "Her connection with her fans is second to none because of the little things like that."

If McPhee recovers according to her own timeline, she should be rejoining the tour in Rochester, New York, this Friday, two days after she is scheduled to be a guest host on The View.

However, the 22-year-old singer stressed in her letter that the tour was her top priority, adding that she had not said a word in "over a week and a half."

"I love you all and please know that I would never intentionally miss Idol shows so I can work on my own individual career," she wrote.

We're sure that's music to McPheever fans' ears.