Daytime TV dynamo Kelly Clarkson’s most cherished perk now that she has her own show is to laugh at the stars who snubbed her when she was just starting out, sources exclusively tell Life & Style.
The 42-year-old “Since U Been Gone” singer recalled her rocky start in showbiz after winning the first-ever American Idol title in 2002, when other entertainers jeered her. “People were like really mean to us because we were from a talent show,” she revealed. “Like everyone was so rude to us, like on the red carpet, at the show. It was so bad. It was a horrible experience!”
Still, Kelly proved her mettle by becoming one of pop’s biggest female singers, scoring a dozen Number 1 hits and selling 45 million singles— AND hosting her own gabfest on NBC.
And as the Emmy-winning Kelly Clarkson Show launched its sixth season on September 23, an insider says Kelly is still keeping score! “Even actors sneered at Kelly and other American Idol winners because Idol was drawing a bigger audience than their scripted TV shows, and they held it against her,” says a buddy.“They saw Kelly as a pre-manufactured star who didn’t pay her dues!”
But the friend adds Kelly is getting the last laugh because some of those stars now have agents who are begging to get their clients booked on Clarkson’s talk show. “Kelly is above naming names, but when producers mention a star who wants to be on her show and she remembers they wouldn’t give her the time of day when she was starting out, she just says, ‘Nah!’”
And the “Stronger” songbird recently dished in an interview many of the entertainers who snubbed her “ended up on shows like I’m from” as judges or coaches. “It’s funny what money does!”
