Kelly Clarkson Calls 2003 ‘From Justin to Kelly’ Movie the ‘Worst Thing Ever’

Kelly Clarkson is returning to the big screen in the upcoming movie, UglyDolls, lending her voice to Moxy, the main character. But it’s not Clarkson’s first time to appear on the big screen. She also appeared in the major box office flop From Justin to Kelly, released in 2003, one year after Clarkson became the Season 1 winner of American Idol.

The movie, which paired her with Justin Guarini, the runner-up of the inaugural season of Idol, was, in hindsight, one of the worst things Clarkson has ever done, even though she acknowledges she didn’t have a choice.

“Yeah, that was the worst thing ever,” Clarkson told Entertainment Tonight. “I was contractually obligated to do that one.”

She might have been contractually obligated to do From Justin to Kelly, but UglyDolls was all of her own choosing.

“This one I volunteered,” Clarksoin said UglyDolls, which also includes the talents of Blake Shelton, Nick Jonas, Emma Roberts and more. “I feel like right now, everything is very divisive, very serious. [Ugly Dolls] is like a nice form of escapism and a reminder of the great parts about humanity.”

Clarkson unintentionally ruined a major part of daughter River Rose’s childhood when explaining her role in UglyDolls.

“I pretty much crushed her dreams. I didn’t really realize what I was doing,” said the singer. “I was explaining to her, because she was confused, and I said, ‘It’s my voice. Like, you know, like how Elsa and Anna, there’s a person that plays Elsa and Anna?’ And I didn’t get what I was doing!”

Clarkson didn’t realize, until it was too late, that she had just broken the news to her daughter that the characters of Frozen weren’t real.

“I saw her little face, and I just saw the wheels spinning, and it was like, ‘Oh no! But isn’t it exciting that you can meet the real girl that plays Elsa?’” Clarkson recounted. “I was like, let’s flip this into a positive!”

Clarkson might be a superstar, but not everyone knows who she is yet. Case in point: at the recent ACM Awards, the 36-year-old was mistaken for a seat filler – a mistake Clarkson finds hilarious.

“This guy goes, ‘Yeah, ma’am, we’re gonna need to you move. We need the seat fillers to move for the talent to come in,’” Clarkson recalled. “And I was like, ‘Oh!’ I was not offended at all, I get it. We all don’t know everybody. I’m the worst, I never know anyone.”

“So I turn around and I was just like, “Oh! Uh, well no, I’m not a seat filler,’” she continued. “I was [thinking] like, ‘Please don’t make me say my name.’ You feel like such a tool going, ‘I’m Kelly Clarkson.’ But he didn’t make me.”

UglyDolls will be released on May 3.

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