When someone enters a reality TV competition, the overall assumption is that their goal is to win. I mean, why else would they enter?
For Kelly Clarkson, she won American Idol and became one of the most popular pop stars in the world. But according to her, that's not what she wanted at all.
The finals were down to Clarkson and Justin Guarini, and Clarkson was the clear front-runner. If you watch the reveal of who wins, you can see Clarkson is a little hesitant. Most people thought it was nerves, but now we're finding out it's because she would rather Justin have won.
"I don't want to win," Kelly told Justin right before walking on stage.
But why would you not want to win a competition that could launch your career?
"I do remember Justin [Guarini] and I having the conversation before, and I was like, 'I don't want to win, I don't want to win', because we found out we had to do a movie," Clarkson told EW. "He really wanted to do a movie. And I really didn't want to do a movie."
The movie she's referring to, of course, is From Justin To Kelly. Guarini ended up staring in the movie as well, but chances are if it was reversed, Clarkson wouldn't have been so willing.
Clarkson says she was told about a minute before they walked on stage that whoever won Idol would be contractually obligated to appear in a movie.
"I was like, 'It would be really super cool if I got second and you got first, because the winner has to do the movie and the second one doesn't'," Clarkson recalled.
Regardless of her film debut, the Grammy winner says she's extremely thankful that she won Idol and was given the chance she was.
"I got to showcase all these different sides of me," she said. "Artists never get the opportunity to do that the first time out the gate."
Now, 15 years after winning the ultimate singing competition, Clarkson will be a judge on the NBC hit show The Voice.
"It's such a cool thing to have that leverage, to have an audience into you before you even have a record deal," she said. "I want to give someone that opportunity."
Clarkson signed on to The Voice before the American Idol reboot was announced, and admits she was "kind of bummed" that ABC approached her after NBC did.
"I hope it's super-successful," she tells EW . "Would it have been awesome to come back to the show that started me and help give someone that start? Yes! But that doesn't mean I can't do the same thing on The Voice . That's my goal."
We love that Kelly Clarkson can be so candid about her fame, and we hope she's happy on The Voice!