Kelly Clarkson Laughs Off Rivalry Claims With Carrie Underwood: ‘We Barely Know Each Other!’

Kelly Clarkson has put an end to any speculations of bad blood between her and fellow Idol champion, Carrie Underwood. In a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live, the talented winner of the first season of American Idol, addressed the rumors and made it clear that there’s no animosity between them.

Kelly, 41, questioned why people assumed there was a problem between her and Carrie who won the second season of American Idol. She emphasized that they barely know each other, having only crossed paths a handful of times. “We don’t even know each other well enough to be pitted against [each other]. Literally, we’ve run into each other a handful of times, and there’s no beef between us. Nothing between us — we don’t know each other. We literally have run into each other a few times,” she stated.

The caller from the virtual audience who asked Kelly the question about her relationship with Carrie went on to ask about her favorite part of having the 40-year-old as a guest on her talk show. Kelly, with her characteristic humor, laughed and went up to the bar to give a quick ‘cheers’ to the bartender before responding to the question. 

She expressed her joy at having Carrie on the show and pointed out the unnecessary rivalry that people create between female artists. They don’t do that with dudes. They only do it with females. And I’m like, we don’t even know each other well enough to do that,” she stated. “But I think… I’d love to have her there in-person! It was during COVID, so it was over Zoom, which is fine, but it’d be cool.”

Later in the evening, the host, Andy Cohen, brought up American Idol once again during his popular segment, “Plead the Fifth.” He challenged Kelly to name an American Idol winner from the last five years. Surprised and caught off guard, the Stronger hitmaker reacted with a playful exclamation before attempting to recall recent winners. Unfortunately, she couldn’t name any of the winners from the show’s reboot in 2018.

This isn’t the first time Kelly has been associated with Carrie. In 2020, she shared an amusing incident where a fan mistook her for the Jesus Take The Wheel star and asked for an autograph. In order to avoid an awkward situation, Kelly signed the autograph as “Carrie Underwood,” jokingly questioning the legality of her actions.

“I literally look nothing like Carrie Underwood,” she declared.