UPDATE: Kelly Clarkson responded to reports that she contemplated suicide while battling body image pressures to be "really skinny." On Tuesday, the singer clarified her remarks on Twitter:
Earlier on HuffPost:
No celebrity is exempt from body image pressures, including Kelly Clarkson.
In a new interview with Attitude, the 35-year-old singer got real about the self-image struggles she faced after being catapulted into stardom following her 2002 win on "American Idol."
"When I was really skinny, I wanted to kill myself," she told the British magazine. "I was miserable, like inside and out, for four years of my life. But no one cared, because aesthetically you make sense."
Clarkson revealed that she was pressured by executives to keep her body image on par with pop stars like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera during her first years of fame.
"It was a very dark time for me. I thought the only way out was quitting," she said. "I like wrecked my knees and my feet because all I would do is put in headphones and run. I was at the gym all the time."
By the time Clarkson released her third studio album, My December, in 2007, she had had enough. Not only did she channel her struggles into her music, but she decided to get rid of the negative people in her life.
"There's a song on My December called 'Sober.' There's this line 'picked the weeds but kept the flowers' and I just live my life by that because you are who you surround yourself with," she explained to the mag.
I was around some really negative people, and I got out of it because I had a lot of great people there too.
"I was around some really negative people, and I got out of it because I had a lot of great people there too," she continued. "It was a case of turning around, facing them and walking toward the light."
Clarkson has been open about her body image issues in the past, and in 2007, she revealed to CosmoGIRL! that she battled bulimia for six months in Grade 7.
In the 15 years since she first won "American Idol," the mom-of-two has come a long way and found self-acceptance with her body.
Last week, while giving a private performance in New York to debut her new song, "Whole Lotta Woman," Clarkson told the audience, "Too skinny, too fat, too blonde — so much blah. This is who I am and I'm happy. Happy looks different on everyone."
She later elaborated her thoughts on body image to the Daily Mail, saying, "The media has always been obsessed with [my size]. And I have felt conflicted over the years. Do you address it? Do you talk about it? Because then you just add to the noise.
"But people like me to talk about it, so I don't really mind carrying that flag. I love that people come up to me and say: 'Because you are comfortable in your skin, you have made me more comfortable in mine.' That's the best compliment ever."
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