A burned-down house, a car, then American Idol

Kelly Clarkson grew up in Texas and, early in her career, decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue music. She did not go alone. According to what she told viewers on The Kelly Clarkson Show, she made the move with a person she did not know, who needed someone to share an apartment.

The arrangement did not last. The apartment burned down, and with it went her place to stay. Clarkson has said that she then slept in her car for a few days. She described it plainly on the programme, in an episode broadcast on December 27 with the actor Kevin Bacon as her guest. She did not give a more precise date, and the report does not say where in Los Angeles the car was parked.

The time without a roof was short, and she has presented it as a brief chapter that was followed quickly by a major opportunity. After those few days in the car she auditioned for a television contest called American Idol. In her words, everything worked out.

She became a star on the first season of American Idol in 2002, which launched her recording career and eventually led to her own television work as a talk-show host. On the same episode she observed that many people in entertainment have a crazy story about hard times before things came together, and that anyone chasing a dream has to want it enough to push through.