Heavy/Getty Kelly Clarkson in April 2022 and in October 2023
Superstar singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson has kicked off 2024 “feeling good” — not only mentally and emotionally, but also physically. After moving cross-country from Los Angeles to New York over the summer of 2023, the original “American Idol” winner turned heads when she appeared dramatically slimmer by fall as she promoted season 5 of “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
Clarkson’s weight has often fluctuated since she skyrocketed to fame on “American Idol” in 2002, and she’s struggled with whether or not to discuss it in the past. But now she’s opening up about what led to her latest weight loss, from a high protein diet to city walks.
“I dropped weight because I’ve been listening to my doctor — a couple years I didn’t,” Clarkson told People in a cover story published on January 3, 2024.
Here’s what you need to know:
Kelly Clarkson Jokingly Apologizes to Vegetarians For Her High-Protein Diet
In recent months, media critics and health experts have speculated about how much weight the star has lost and how she did it. While she didn’t give a specific number of pounds lost, she did reveal on her show in December that she no longer needs to wear body-slimming Spanx — except to keep her warm.
Complaining about how chilly the studio gets, she said, “In this building it’s so cold. I don’t even need to wear Spanx anymore. I just wear them for warmth like thermals.”
As for how she dropped the weight, Clarkson credited all the walking she now does in New York, a high-protein diet, and other tools for optimizing her health.
“Walking in the city is quite the workout,” she told People. “And I’m really into infrared saunas right now. And I just got a cold plunge because everybody wore me down.”
Food-wise, Clarkson eats a high-protein diet but isn’t afraid to splurge on treats.
“I eat a healthy mix,” she said. “I dropped weight because I’ve been listening to my doctor — a couple years I didn’t. And 90 percent 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!”
“But I still splurge,” Clarkson continued. “The other night I had a frozen yogurt with my daughter, and it was magical.”
Clarkson is not, however, promoting any specific weight loss program or products, the Associated Press pointed out in October, after a company selling weight loss gummies distributed a fake ad that made it look like the singer was endorsing its products.
After years of living in but not loving Los Angeles, Clarkson moved to New York over the summer with her children River Rose, 9, and Remington, 7, whom she shares with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. Their contentious divorce took its toll on her, she has admitted, but Clarkson finally feels like she’s back on track.
She told People it was a relief “just to come into season 5 feeling good and knowing my kids feel good and, you know, the dust has settled.”
Kelly Clarkson Has Struggled With How Much to Talk About Her Weight Over the Years
GettyKelly Clarkson in 2002
Clarkson is used to being asked about her fluctuating weight after years of ups and downs on the scale. Even on “American Idol,” she told Ellen DeGeneres in 2015, she was seen as the “biggest girl” in the cast.
“And I wasn’t big, but people would call me big … I’ve kind of always gotten that,” she said.
“The media has always been obsessed with (my size),” she told the Daily Mail in 2017. “And I have felt conflicted over the years. Do you address it? Do you talk about it? Because then you just add to the noise. But people like me to talk about it, so I don’t really mind carrying that flag. I love that people come up to me and say, ‘Because you are comfortable in your skin, you have made me more comfortable in mine.’ That’s the best compliment ever.”
The following year, in 2018, she lost 37 pounds after reading a book called “The Plant Paradox” in an effort to address an autoimmune disease and thyroid condition she was diagnosed with in 2006, according to Today. Adopting that diet allowed her to dramatically decrease her dependency on medication to control her thyroid issues.
“It’s basically about how we cook our food, non-GMO, no pesticides, eating really organic,” she told Extra at the time.
In her new interview with People, Clarkson said that tending to her mental health has also become paramount to her personal well-being.
“I love therapy,” she said, “and I think it’s important to have those tools that someone teaches you to kind of navigate your life and your relationships.”