The 38-year-old American Idol winner opened up about the pressure put on her regarding her weight during an interview with Glamour UK, which was published just days after she filed for a divorce.
“I’ve had this discussion with many females in the industry. 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. It was more of magazines shoved in front of you and, ‘This is what you’re competing with and we’ve got to compete with it.’ I can’t compete with that. That’s not even my image. That’s not who I am. That’s who they are. We’re all different and it’s okay,” she went on to say.
“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!” she added.
However, she soon realized that her talent superseded everything else. “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 admitted.
Clarkson lauds NBC executive Paul Telegdy for choosing her unmatched talent and removing the pressure of looking good away from her shoulders.
“Paul hired me from NBC because he loved my personality, he loved that I connect with people and I’m really raw and real. 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,” she said.