Kelly Clarkson: I Didn’t Know American Idol Was a TV Show

Bang Showbiz | Los Angeles
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Kelly Clarkson had no idea that American Idol was a television show when she first auditioned.

The 42-year-old singer, who became the inaugural winner of the competition in 2002, said she and other contestants were simply trying to make ends meet—unaware the show would become a massive national broadcast.

Speaking on the "Not Gonna Lie" podcast, the "Behind These Hazel Eyes" hitmaker shared:

“For all of us in that first season, we literally didn’t... I didn’t even know it was a TV show until my third audition.
Like, we were literally trying to pay our bills. We thought, ‘Oh, this might work. I might meet someone or whatever.’ Nobody knew it was gonna amount to anything.”

A Struggle Before Stardom

Clarkson revealed that, at 19 years old, she was simply trying to get by:

“We were literally just kids. I was trying to pay my electric bill, y’all. And afford the deductible on my car that was bashed in that I couldn’t afford. It was a different thing.”

Despite winning the competition and launching a successful career, Clarkson admitted that her rise to fame was not easy.

“I had no one. I was the first winner. It was hard. Not to sound like, whatever, but it was really hard.”

She also recalled how some industry figures were "really mean" to her as she navigated the early days of her career post-Idol.