Here's a fact you can take with you to trivia night: Kelly Clarkson won the first-ever season of American Idol back in 2002. Clarkson was a 20-year-old singing phenom who was adored by Idol fans all over the world! However, you don't get to the top of any mountain without some people feeling like you didn't deserve the accomplishment.
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Clarkson spoke about the negatives that came with her American Idol win to Jennifer Love Hewitt on The Kelly Clarkson Show. The singer spoke candidly about Hewitt's influence following what should've been her crowning achievement. "You probably don't remember this, but it stuck with me so long. Almost twenty years now. Right after — you have no idea I'm about to say this and you probably don't remember — but it was at some kind of MTV Awards or something or VMAs or something. I don't know what it was, but you ran up to me," Clarkson recalled.
"We were just so slammed and everything was happening like in a whirlwind and people like were really mean to us because we're from a talent show and it was the first season," Clarkson remembered. Then, she got into an emotionally raw moment Hewitt helped her through.
Kelly Clarkson Recalls Other Singers' Reaction To Her Winning 'American Idol'
"Like, everyone was so rude to us, like, on the carpet, like at the show. It was so bad. It was a horrible experience. And you came up to me and ran up to me out of nowhere and were like, 'Oh my gosh! I'm really rooting for you!'"
At her most uncertain, feeling like everyone was against her, Clarkson found an important ally in Hewitt. "You told me, 'Please keep the ones you love so close and it'll end up being about a few people in your life, unfortunately. But this business can be really hard.'"
Finally, Clarkson ended on a grateful note. She thanked Hewitt for believing in her when her contemporaries disliked her. "'And just remember to keep those people who really love you.' And you just gave me this advice that was really, really kind in such an... unkind rather time for me, personally."
