Pop sensation and American Idol's first season winner, Kelly Clarkson, 35, opened up in an interview with Attitude Magazine about her Suicidal Thoughts early on in her career. Although she has been upfront about her weight in the past, she has shared a whole new perspective with her fans and with the world about what happens behind closed doors when the lights and cameras aren't flashing.
With her album, "Meaning of Life" set for release this Friday, the singer has taken us back a bit to a time in her life when she felt at her absolute lowest. As she promoted her first solo album, "Breakaway," Clarkson reveals that her aesthetically pleasing look on the outside didn't amount to what she felt on the inside at all.
For four years of her life, she was miserable and regularly thought about ending it all and taking her own life.
Body image isn't all it's cracked up to be
She was working herself too hard at the gym in addition to continually dieting to keep up with her image, and she realizes now that most people didn't take notice of the dark time in her life because she looked good, and that was all that mattered to people. Despite the presence of the negative people in her life at the time, she credits the positive people that supported her with getting her out of her misery and finding the light as well as her happiness once again.
Clarkson refused to simply accept the price of fame and decided to follow her own path to find herself amongst the hate and criticism she faced (and still continues to face) as an artist.
She has also made a point of saying that her thin body type wasn't the source of her suicidal thoughts, which she mentioned in a tweet on Tuesday; instead, it was the pressure that she felt to maintain her weight, in spite of the strenuous process it entailed. She further comments that being happy and healthy is not synonymous with being skinny and that just because someone seems fine doesn't mean that life is perfect.
Just to clear something up. I wasn’t ever miserable because I had to be thin. I said I was miserable & as a result I became thin. https://t.co/N1uhyOWqMb
— Kelly Clarkson (@kelly_clarkson) October 24, 2017
NOT TRUEI’ve never contemplated suicide because of my weight.I said people had no idea I was unhappy oddly enough because I appeared healthy https://t.co/Ddvumlrk5b
— Kelly Clarkson (@kelly_clarkson) October 24, 2017
What healthy looks like
Clarkson has found some peace of mind with her family, including her husband and manager, Brandon Blackstone, and her two children, River and Remington, and two step-children, Seth and Savannah.
The singer is in a much better state now and is not afraid to shut down trolls on social media who body shame her. She is very much accepting of all body types and promotes body positivity in all walks of life, outlining the importance of having discussions about self-esteem and confidence within families and in general.