American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, admitted in an interview with USA Today that she is bitter about her win and explained why she would have preferred to be a runner-up.
Getty Images | Jon Kopaloff
Kelly Clarkson Admits That She Felt 'Bitter' After Winning 'American Idol'
Obviously, we all remember Kelly Clarkson's triumphant 2002 "American Idol" win.
YouTube | Kelly Clarkson
We kind of all saw it coming.
Remember her performance of "A Moment Like This"? Of course you do. It was iconic.
There was nothing that warmed our hearts more that year than seeing her burst into happy tears while giving her winning performance.
Getty Images | Steve Granitz
“It’s forever in time. People can watch me bawl singing ‘A Moment Like This.’ It’s fine," Kelly said.
But a lot has changed since 2002.
NBC
Kelly is now a mom, wife, mentor on The Voice, and the host of her own talk show that premieres on September 9th.
At the time of Kelly's "American Idol" win, she seemed genuinely excited.
NBC
But it turns out that Kelly wasn't quite as excited about winning the show as we were for her.
In an interview with USA Today, Kelly explains why she felt "bitter" about her win.
She explained that after winning, the she felt overwhelmed by contractual obligations, and being swarmed by photographers and reporters.
“I’m still the same person, but with a busier schedule,” she said back then.
In fact, she still swears by that statement to this day.
"That’s actually very true for right now. I’m the same kid that was on ‘Idol.’ Obviously, I’m now a mother and a wife and there’s different things in my life I’ve progressed with."
"But the core of me is still the same chick you saw on ‘Idol,” she says. “I have a very normal life, other than my jobs.”
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Although American Idol paved the way for Kelly's entire career as we know it, she admits that it came at a small price.
She revealed that many artists actually bullied her after she started having success on mainstream radio.
Amazon
But here's the tea:
Many of those unnamed artists actually went on to be judges and coaches for TV talent contests.
“So there’s irony," she said.
"And that’s why I like to do that for artists on ‘The Voice.’ It’s actually healed that bitterness I used to carry, being able to be that for somebody else.”
NBC
Despite carrying some bitterness toward her American Idol, she says that she did enjoy her time on the show.
“The first three years of my career was me just paying for winning a talent show," she said.
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"I got real bitter. I was just looking for anyone to talk to who knew what I was going through."
She actually plans on inviting Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson onto her talk-show for a reunion.
However, there was one part of her win that she really doesn't miss.
“It’s really funny, because I knew that the winner of ‘Idol’ would have to do that movie," she said. "From Justin To Kelly", with that year's runner-up, Justin Guarini.
"And I didn’t want to do that movie. And I think Justin did," she added.
Btw, the movie totally bombed. It has 10% on Rotten Tomatoes.
IMDb
I mean, people really didn't like it.
So, it's pretty understandable why Kelly holds a bit of resentment toward the film.
Kelly may be bitter about winning "American Idol", but look at everything that she has amounted to since then!
Getty Images | SGranitz
Seems like it was totally worth it!
So, we were totally cool with him winning and me not winning, so I didn’t have to do the movie."
Getty Images | Jon Kopaloff
"But I won, and had to do it. Contractually obligated.”
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