{"id":20683,"date":"2022-09-09T11:36:12","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T15:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=20683"},"modified":"2022-09-09T11:36:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T15:36:12","slug":"kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html","title":{"rendered":"Kelly Clarkson Celebrates 20 Years Since \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d Win"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Lev Radin \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

20 years ago on September 4th<\/sup>, then 20-year-old Kelly Clarkson stood nervously beside Justin Guarini on the set of \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d as the two waited to see who would be the show\u2019s first champion. Clarkson reflected on her win with an Instagram<\/a> post, writing, \u201c20 years ago today I won American Idol and it forever changed the course of my life. That moment was the door that opened up so much access and opportunity, and creative partnerships that I will be grateful for all of my days.\u201d The singer and talk show host concluded with a note of gratitude to the people that voted for her and the friends and family who have surrounded her along the way.<\/p>\n

Twenty years has brought about a sea of changes for the 40-year-old mom of two. Since her win, she has had a number of successes and failures, from her frequently panned acting debut in \u201cFrom Justin to Kelly,\u201d a successful singing career, and she became a regular judge on \u201cThe Voice.\u201d She also became the host of her own talk show, \u201cThe Kelly Clarkson Show,\u201d with the fourth season premiering on NBC in the coveted 4pm slot on September 12th<\/sup>, replacing retiring Ellen DeGeneres\u2019s show. Speaking to \u201cVariety\u201d<\/a> about what it means to take that slot, Clarkson said, \u201cI hold the Oprahs and the Ellens in such high regard. Very few people can conquer what they conquered. My team is very stoked, and I believe in my team. But by no means am I filling anyone shoes \u2014 I don\u2019t want that pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clarkson\u2019s life since her win hasn\u2019t been without some valleys. She filed for divorce from her husband, Brandon Blackstock, in 2020, with the divorce being finalized March of this year. With the pressure of the divorce and her full schedule, Clarkson recently walked away<\/a> from her gig as a coach on \u201cThe Voice,\u201d saying she needed a break. In her \u201cVariety\u201d interview, the star discussed how the changes have affected her work, saying, \u201cI had some time, finally. I\u2019ve never had a summer off since I was, like, 16, and I was like, \u2018I need it off.\u2019 I think that created the space for me to really have time to go, \u2018What am I comfortable with? What do I want to release?\u2019\u201d She revealed that her next album will deal with the many emotions she experienced during her divorce. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like the arc of a relationship, because the beginning is so beautiful and so sweet, and then it evolves. And sometimes it doesn\u2019t evolve how you want.\u201d When asked how she manages to be so authentic, Clarkson responded, \u201cThe biggest thing for me is I never thought I\u2019d be fighting so hard to just be myself. People don\u2019t think what you are is going to sell is going to make them money, and I was like, \u2018Well, I am just going to be me. If that happens for you, that\u2019s great. If it doesn\u2019t, sorry.\u2019 It\u2019s worked out, the hard work. But it was very hard.\u201d Clarkson\u2019s season 4 premiere will feature guests such as Garth Brooks, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20 years ago on September 4th, then 20-year-old Kelly Clarkson stood nervously beside Justin Guarini on the set of \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d as the two waited to see who would be the show\u2019s first champion. Clarkson reflected on her win with an Instagram post, writing, \u201c20 years ago today I won American Idol and it forever…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":20686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nKelly Clarkson Celebrates 20 Years Since \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d Win<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kelly Clarkson celebrates 20 years since her "American Idol" win, which made her the first winner of the show.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kelly Clarkson Celebrates 20 Years Since \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d Win\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kelly Clarkson celebrates 20 years since her "American Idol" win, which made her the first winner of the show.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-09T15:36:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson_credit-lev-radin-shutterstock-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kelly Clarkson Celebrates 20 Years Since \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d Win","description":"Kelly Clarkson celebrates 20 years since her \"American Idol\" win, which made her the first winner of the show.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kelly Clarkson Celebrates 20 Years Since \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d Win","og_description":"Kelly Clarkson celebrates 20 years since her \"American Idol\" win, which made her the first winner of the show.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html","og_site_name":"Idol Chatter","article_published_time":"2022-09-09T15:36:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson_credit-lev-radin-shutterstock-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia Buchanan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html","name":"Kelly Clarkson Celebrates 20 Years Since \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d Win","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson_credit-lev-radin-shutterstock-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-09T15:36:12+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-09T15:36:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/77cb6eeb5c74ee0eb8c77ea1ebc43c6a"},"description":"Kelly Clarkson celebrates 20 years since her \"American Idol\" win, which made her the first winner of the show.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson_credit-lev-radin-shutterstock-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson_credit-lev-radin-shutterstock-scaled.jpg","width":768,"height":576,"caption":"Lev Radin \/ Shutterstock.com"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/kelly-clarkson-celebrates-20-years-since-american-idol-win.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kelly Clarkson Celebrates 20 Years Since \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d Win"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/","name":"Idol Chatter","description":"Beliefnet Entertainment blog, TV blog, Movie blog, Religion in entertainment blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/77cb6eeb5c74ee0eb8c77ea1ebc43c6a","name":"Leigh Pizzutilla","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/824\/82495162063119d033794eb2206a0067x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/824\/82495162063119d033794eb2206a0067x96.jpg","caption":"Leigh Pizzutilla"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/author\/lpizzutilla"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20683"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20692,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20683\/revisions\/20692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}