Kelly has long been open about how she had no idea that American Idol would completely change her life after she first signed on, admitting back in 2021 that she — and the other Season 1 contestants — thought the show was a joke.
But now, Kelly has opened up a little more about her time on American Idol, revealing that she didn’t even realize she was on a TV show until her third audition.
Sitting down on Kylie Kelce’s Not Gonna Lie podcast this week, Kelly was asked about all the hype around her iconic time on American Idol. She replied, “For me, it’s different. For all of us in that first season, we literally didn’t — I didn’t even know it was a TV show until my third audition…We were literally trying to pay our bills, y’all.”
“We were literally kids, like 19 years old, trying to pay my electric bill,” she said before adding, “I don’t look at it how everybody perceives it.”
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Kelly went on to discuss how ending up as a judge on The Voice was great for her, given that she knew exactly what contestants needed, having been in that position herself.
“I had no one,” she said as she recalled her time after American Idol. “I was the first winner, right, so it was hard. Not to sound, like, whatever, but it was really hard.”
“People were really cruel at first. They didn’t like it; it took the industry kind of by storm,” she later explained. “It was a very unlikeable thing in the industry.”
Kelly then revealed that some of these critics actually ended up on The Voice. “People that were really mean have been coaches. You know what I’m saying? Like, hated talent shows, and ended up being on The Voice.”
I wonder who she’s talking about…LMK what you think in the comments. Meanwhile, you can listen to the full podcast episode here.
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