Saturday, May 19, 2012 11:00am ET by  
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Kelly Clarkson reveals struggle following American Idol win

Kelly Clarkson has revealed how difficult she found life after American Idol, describing the first four years of her career as ‘crap.’

The ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ singer, who will be seen as a mentor for the first time on US talent show Duets later this month, told Billboard.com that she wished she’d had more guidance and support following her victory in 2002:

“The first four years of my career was crap. I was successful but I was so busy. The dream is to be successful but also be happy and that was one of my biggest reasons for doing the show.

“I know this sounds super cheesy, but I wish I would have had somebody there to hold my hand or at least say this is a poor decision or this is something you should really do or look out who you hire.

“I worked with a lot of great people, but there have been people who say 'we want you to be the biggest star in the world' and I say 'umm, that's not a goal of mine.' I want a life. I think it's important for them to figure what they want musically and how they want to live their life. I'd like to be able to help.”

However, the 30-year-old, who this week announced a new UK arena tour, claimed that she now has a good balance between her work and personal life, something which has created an entirely different problem:

“I love that I am in a relationship and that I have time for it. But I'm writing all this happy shit. It's killing me. I'm trying to write a tough song and it's coming out butterflies and rainbows.”

 

 

 

Watch Kelly perform an acoustic version of 'Stronger' below: