Kelly Clarkson Felt Pressured to Be Sexual as a Rising Pop Star: “I Needed to Struggle Like Hell”

Within the 20 years since her “American Idol” win, Kelly Clarkson has change into a family identify. Most just lately the “Stronger” singer introduced her tenth studio album, anticipated to be launched in 2023, and signed on for a fourth season of “The Kelly Clarkson Present,” which is ready to take over the time slot initially held by “The Ellen DeGeneres Present” on NBC. However as a younger pop star, Clarkson mentioned her rise to stardom was uncomfortable, with business professionals usually pressuring her to behave sexual and match the mildew of a stereotypical Hollywood star.

“It was not nice,” Clarkson advised Variety within the publication’s September cowl story. “It was simply actually arduous for me to navigate the business. I keep in mind this one software I labored with — this dude came visiting my home and put down some magazines and was like, ‘So that is what you are competing with.’ There have been bare folks on the duvet! I’ve no drawback with nudity. I am, like, a complete nudist. However that is simply not my vibe, artistry-wise. A bit of thriller goes a good distance for me. However I actually checked out this older white man and was like, ‘Uh, no. That is not what I am competing with. It is perhaps what you’re feeling like I’m competing with, however that is not me.”

For Clarkson, the demand to be edgier was emotionally taxing, forcing her to face her floor for the sake of her profession and her well-being. “The largest factor for me is I by no means thought I might be preventing so arduous to simply be myself,” she mentioned. “Individuals do not suppose what you’re goes to promote goes to make them cash, and I used to be like, ‘Effectively, I’m simply going to be me. If that occurs for you, that is nice. If it would not, sorry.’ It is labored out, the arduous work. Nevertheless it was very arduous.”

As her profession developed, the strain to alter her picture turned fixed, with one photographer even dropping her mood when Clarkson refused to carry up a cigarette. “I had this one photographer abroad who was like, ‘I simply need you to carry this cigarette and act rock ‘n’ roll,’ and I began laughing as a result of I believed she was joking,” she mentioned. “She obtained so mad at me. Apparently, she was like this massive photographer. She was like, ‘I would like you to crash this beer bottle and maintain it up.’ I used to be like, ‘What? What kind of frat social gathering are we at?’ She was so indignant. I had so lots of these cases which can be simply uncomfortable. It simply bummed me out. However you realize what? It is all proper. As a result of what would not kill you makes you stronger.”

At such a younger age, the fixed expectation to fake to be somebody she wasn’t may have turned the singer off from going after her desires altogether. However Clarkson doubled down on her efforts to make her true self seen, refusing to adapt to typical pop-star requirements even when it meant making business leaders sad. “On the finish of the day, lots of people take a look at you as a product, as a result of they’re in a enterprise — they will get fired if they do not become profitable. So I do not blame them,” Clarkson mentioned. “Girls like to be sexual. All people likes to be flirty. All people likes to be sensual. However each girl isn’t just that one factor; we’re multifaceted. And so they attempt to take that one factor and blow it up. I needed to battle like hell to ensure that it did not push the envelope for me. I feel it is arduous should you’re a younger woman, an adolescent. You are still rising up.”

Whereas navigating Hollywood’s expectations of ladies pop stars hasn’t been simple, Clarkson mentioned she’s grateful for the trail her “American Idol” win has put her on and the relationships she’s constructed alongside the best way. “20 years in the past as we speak I received ‘American Idol’ and it without end modified the course of my life,” Clarkson wrote in an Instagram post on Sept. 5. That second was the door that opened up a lot entry and alternative, and inventive partnerships that I’ll be glad about all of my days. The household and friendships I’ve created over these 20 years in music and television are priceless to me.”

She continued, “We solely get so many journeys across the solar and whereas I’m proud and really feel abundantly blessed of the successes and failures that I’ve discovered from, I’m most proud and grateful for these buddies which have change into household, and for his or her arms which have held me once I wanted it and their hearts that listened to me once I felt misplaced. With out them I’d not be the place I’m. I’d most likely not be right here in any respect. Thanks a lot to each single person who voted 20 years in the past! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! I hope all of you will have folks in your lives that fill you with laughter, and hope, and happiness, and should you do not feel like you will have that, then hold looking out as a result of I promise you they’re on the lookout for you too.”