Nowadays, Kelly Clarkson is a successful singer, songwriter, author, and television personality To date, she has released ten studio albums, having sold more than 25 million copies and 45 million singles across the world. She’s also proven she’s a great vocal coach, joining The Voice for its fourteenth season a couple of years ago. Nowadays, Clarkson is the host of The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Despite her recent divorce from Brandon Blackstock, Clarkson still has an estimated net worth of $45 million. Although much of her current income comes from her talk show, the star wouldn’t have been able to amass all this wealth without her successful music career. And it all started when she auditioned for the first season of American Idol.
With her current success, it’s hard to believe some people didn’t believe in Kelly Clarkson when she was fresh of American Idol. But the singer has admitted that many celebrities belittled her when she was just becoming famous. But now, she’s in a much better place than them.
Kelly Clarkson Was Broke When She Auditioned for American Idol
In 2001 and fresh out of high school, Kelly Clarkson moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music. Around that time, she landed a few roles as an extra in television shows such as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Dharma & Greg, she also recorded five demo tracks in an effort to secure a record deal. But her efforts were unsuccessful and she had to return to her hometown, Burleson, Texas, less than a year later.
When she got the opportunity to audition for a new singing competition series called American Idol: The Search for a Superstar, Clarkson was working odd jobs to pay the bills. She promoted Red Bull energy drinks, worked as a telemarketer, a cocktail waitress, and even worked at restaurants like Papa John’s.
“I had nothing to my name,” Clarkson revealed on an episode of The Rewind with Guy Raz. “Literally, I had to make that top to go to this audition. I had like no clothes, no nothing.” Still, she went to the audition and won a “golden ticket” to go directly to the Hollywood rounds.
Most recently, Clarkson revealed that she initially didn’t think American Idol would kickstart her career. After all, the show was brand new and untested, “nobody knew if anyone was going to watch it,” the singer told CNBC that she thought American Idol would be a flop. But even then, she figured, “I’d at least make enough money to where I could … just get everything going again.”
The Judges Knew Kelly Clarkson Was Going Far When She First Auditioned For American Idol
The first season of American Idol debuted in June 2002 on the Fox network. It was co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman, with Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell serving as judges. More than 10,000 contestants from all across the country auditioned but only 121 were selected to appear on the show.
Despite the huge amount of contestants that came to the call, things were not looking up for the show during the initial auditions. In fact, things were so bad that Paula Abdul tried to quit eight times during the first day! "I actually thought I was being punked on the first day. Paula [Abdul] resigned, every singer was out of tune, and I thought, 'Well this is a joke.' It got worse, progressively," Cowell revealed during Kelly Clarkson’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. "So I thought this is an absolute disaster. Like, why did I come here?"
But it all changed when Kelly Clarkson auditioned. Cowell told the singer, "And thank God, I remember the day we met you. I remember not just your voice, but your personality. I'm gonna be honest here, I didn't realize at that point, honestly, how good you were. I just liked you. And I was so thankful."
And, when Clarkson ultimately won the show, Cowell knew American Idol was going to be a success, "I remember that moment when your name was called, and I was thinking to myself, 'Thanks to you, we may have another season.' I can honestly say to you, thanks to you. You validated what we did, because if we didn't find a star, there was no point in doing these shows."
Kelly Clarkson Threw Shade At Celebrities Who Were Rude To Her Shortly After Winning American Idol
While appearing in Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Kelly Clarkson revealed that many celebrities were rude to her when she had just won American Idol. When asked to name one of those celebs, Clarkson chose to plead the fifth.
Although she didn’t reveal their names, she did say that “a lot of them ended up on shows like the one I’m from.” Then she threw shade at them, commenting how “It’s funny what money does.”
