Kelly Clarkson feared she’d ‘die’ at 203 pounds before drastic weight loss: ‘Who the f–k was that?’
Kelly Clarkson is opening up about her drastic weight loss for the first time.
The “Piece by Piece” singer, 42, confirmed that she’s on a weight loss drug that isn’t Ozempic while chatting with Whoopi Goldberg on her talk show, “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” on Monday.
Clarkson said she realized she was overweight when she watched footage of herself from a never-released birthday show filmed last April at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles.
“Seeing yourself … I didn’t see it,” she admitted of her 2023 weight. “I was watching it. We were in my house in New York watching it. I was gonna release it. And then all of a sudden, I was like, ‘Who the f–k was that?’ I swear to God. It sounds insane.”
Clarkson told Goldberg, 68, she thought she could lose her life when she reached her “heaviest” weight of 203 pounds.
“I maybe should’ve known,” she said. “Because I watched that show and I was like, ‘Any second now, she is gonna die.'”
Despite being overweight at the time, Clarkson said that she wasn’t unhappy.
“It’s funny because people assume, ‘Oh, she must have been miserable and depressed or whatever,’ and I was like, ‘No, I was not.’”
The Season 1 “American Idol” champion revealed that her doctor “chased me for two years” to get on a weight loss drug, but she was “afraid” to take it because of her thyroid problems.
However, Clarkson eventually changed her mind and confirmed on her talk show that she’s been taking a prescription drug to shed weight.
“It’s something that aids in helping break down the sugar,” the Grammy winner shared of the unnamed drug. “Obviously, my body doesn’t do it right.”
Clarkson hasn’t confirmed the amount of weight she’s lost.
In January, Clarkson claimed she lost all the weight thanks to diet and exercise after fans of her show accused her of taking Ozempic.
“I dropped weight because I’ve been listening to my doctor — a couple of years I didn’t,” she told People magazine at the time, noting that her diet includes “a healthy mix.”
“And 90% of the time I’m really good at it because a protein diet is good for me anyway. I’m a Texas girl, so I like meat — sorry, vegetarians in the world!”
Clarkson has been open about her weight struggles over the years. In 2020, she told Glamour UK that she was once shown naked women on magazine covers as a comparison for her own looks.
“I felt more pressure,” she admitted. “It was more of magazines shoved in front of you and ‘This is what you’re competing with and we’ve got to compete with it.’ I can’t compete with that. That’s not even my image. That’s not who I am. That’s who they are.”
Back in 2017, Clarkson responded to body shamers in an interview with Redbook, saying, “No one actually cares about your health. They just care about aesthetics.”
She bluntly added: “It’s when I’m fat that I’m happy. People think, ‘Oh, there’s something wrong with her. She’s putting on weight.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, no! I’m sorry, but that represents happiness in my emotional world.'”
