Kelly Clarkson Shares Emotional Message 20 Years After 'American Idol' Win

By Daniel S. Levine

Kelly Clarkson won American Idol Season 1 20 years ago, changing the course of her life and the music industry all at once. Clarkson, who has since gone on to have one of the most successful post-Idol careers and even hosts a daytime talk show, shared an emotional statement marking the anniversary on Sunday. The "Stronger" singer thanked everyone who has helped make her career possible and offered inspiration to her millions of fans.

Clarkson's Idol victory "forever changed the course of my life," she began. "That moment was the door that opened so much access and opportunity, and creative partnerships that I will be grateful for all of my days," she continued. "The family and friendships I have created over these 20 years in music and TV are priceless to me."

Although Clarkson feels "abundantly blessed" by her successes and failures she learned from, she is "most proud and grateful" for her friends that have become family, "and for their arms that have held me when I needed it and their hearts that listened to me when I felt lost." Without them, Clarkson wrote, she would not be where she is today. "I would probably not be here at all," she wrote.

"Thank you so much to every single person that voted 20 years ago," she concluded. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I hope all of you have people in your lives that fill you with laughter, and hope, and happiness, and if you don't feel like you have that, then keep searching because I promise you they're looking for you too."

Clarkson has said multiple times in the past that no one expected Idol to become a phenomenon. When Andy Cohen appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show in March 2021, Clarkson said she didn't even expect to have a successful career after winning. "I thought, 'I'm going to be the most famous cocktail waitress in Texas,'" she said, later adding that there was something "so pure and raw" about the first season.

The Fort Worth, Texas native shot to stardom overnight on Sept. 4, 2002, when she beat Justin Guarini in the first American Idol season finale. Since then, she has continued recording hit after hit and won Grammys for "Since U Been Gone" and her albums Breakaway and Stronger. She released her ninth studio album, When Christmas Comes Around..., in October. Clarkson has also coached multiple seasons of NBC's The Voice and has hosted The Kelly Clarkson Show for NBCUniversal since 2019. The series has earned Clarkson Emmys for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Clarkson is not returning for the upcoming season of The Voice. In August, she told Hoda Kotb and Carson Daily on Today that she needed a summer off. "You don't get summers off generally unless you're in high school," she said. "But I hadn't had a minute, and it's obviously been a rough couple years so it was really important to me to shut down for a minute."

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