Kelly Clarkson Opens Up About Weight Gain, What It Felt Like To Be Really Skinny

Kelly Clarkson has one of the most iconic voices in the music industry, and these days she happily focuses on her music without the pressure to maintain an artificial image record executives designed. However, in the early years of Clarkson's career, the American Idol alum's image apparently was everything to the people in charge. The most critical factor of all for Clarkson was the notion she needed to lose weight. The "Love So Soft" singer recently opened up in an interview and said,

When I was really skinny, I wanted to kill myself. I was miserable, like inside and out, for four years of my life. But no one cared because aesthetically you make sense. It was a very dark time for me. I thought the only way out was quitting. I like wrecked my knees and my feet because all I would do is put in headphones and run. I was at the gym all the time.

It should give everyone pause when someone as incredible as Kelly Clarkson says people sold her on the idea that she "aesthetically" made more sense as a thin person. This revelation holds powerful implications for society's views on health, perfection, and weight. It speaks volumes that she felt pressured to strive for a physical perfection in a way that left her with emotional scars and mental anguish, not to mention bad knees.

Kelly Clarkson has grown up a lot since the days when she let record executives dictate her image right down to her weight. Today Clarkson has a knockout body of work that highlights her exceptional vocal prowess. Plus, the 35-year-old diva is one of the most confident people in Hollywood, and her fearless approach toward body image issues is inspiring.

However, confidence did not always come easy. Kelly Clarkson also told Attitude that she worked hard to remove negative influences (i.e., negative people) from her life so that she could gain self-esteem. The Grammy Award winner said it was not easy to cut out the negative voices in her head (or her life), but she knew it had to happen for her personal growth and mental clarity. Clarkson continued,

There's a song on My December called 'Sober.' There's this line 'picked the weeds but kept the flowers' and I just live my life by that because you are who you surround yourself with. I was around some really negative people, and I got out of it because I had a lot of great people there too. It was a case of turning around, facing them and walking toward the light.

Isn't it incredible that someone with as much raw talent and star power as Kelly Clarkson still faces a backlash from a society that tells her who to be and how to be it? Today, it is a joy to see Clarkson living out loud. She is in love with her husband and her two children. She still brings down the house with her gorgeous voice, and yes, she is aesthetically beautiful in every way. Hopefully, Clarkson's message serves as a positive reminder for everyone to shut off the noise from society and focus on holistic health for the right reasons.

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