Kelly Clarkson has come a long way since she won in the first season of “American Idol” in 2002.
The “Stronger” singer had a quick shot to fame when she was younger, but it came at the price of being body-shamed when she was “thin and not super healthy.”
In a candid interview with Glamour Unfiltered, Clarkson, 38, said she felt “more pressure” in the industry when she was skinnier because the focus on her body image took away the focus from her music.
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“I felt more pressure from people actually when I was thin, when I was really thin and not super healthy because I just was worn out, just working so hard and not keeping healthy habits,” she said. “But I felt more pressure.”
According to the “Kelly Clarkson Show” host, she was body-shamed by others who used extreme measures.
Clarkson said that, at the time, she was shown photos of magazine covers of naked women and told, "This is what you're competing with and we've got to compete with it."
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She added, “I fought more when I was thinner than I do now, because now I just walk in and I just look at them like, ‘I dare you to say something. I'm happy in my life. I'll work on me in my time!’”
Clarkson also associates some of her better moments in her career with being at a heavier weight than when she was doing "American Idol" because people focused more on her personality and professional merit.
The "My Life Would Suck" singer's recent accomplishments include her daytime talk show on NBC and her Las Vegas residency.
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“Honestly, at my heaviest point, I was hired to be on ‘The Voice.' I got on the number one television show at my heaviest point, because it was right after I had kids and it was like they didn't care,” she said. “It had nothing to do with my sex appeal or my look aesthetically. It had to do with me as a person. I think it's really up to artists to force people to have that mentality.”