Kelly Clarkson hosted an “American Idol” family reunion for Wednesday’s episode of her new self-titled talk show.
Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson were thrilled for Kelly’s new show and give her credit for the success of the long-running singing competition show.
“I actually, genuinely do not believe that we would have been sitting here today if you hadn’t entered the show,” Simon said. “We had to find a star who was going to sell records.”
The trio of judges never expected the show would have so much longevity. “I really thought it would last about two weeks and we’d get thrown off the air,” he added.
The 37-year-old host got real on the show when she revealed that when she auditioned she didn’t actually know who any of the judges were besides Paula Abdul. She also admits that she was living in her car after her home burned down.
“Somebody told me about the audition, I literally walked in, I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea it was a TV show until the audition when I was in front of you all. I was like, ‘Paul Abdul is here,’ some English dude,” Kelly said.
Paula called Kelly’s audition one of the most exciting days and Randy claims that he knew at that moment she was going to win, “I knew you were going to win,” Randy added.
Kelly was the first “American Idol” winner back in 2002 and she brought her runner-up Justin Guarini also on the show to join the judges.