Hey guys! From
People.com, here's a new photo feature all about Kel. As her
Breakaway Tour kicks off tonight in Tulsa, OK, take this time to look back & enjoy Kelly as she's progressed from
AI to her recent status as one of the biggest stars in the world today.
All About Kelly Clarkson
Check in with the ex-
American Idol as she starts her 35-city tour
PhotoSpecial
TUESDAY MAR 29, 2005 6:00AM EST
All About Kelly Clarkson From her famous friends to her first solo tour, take a peek inside the
American Idol winner's life. By Serena Kappes
SHAPING UP
Clarkson, 22, has become quite svelte in the past few months. What's her secret? "She isn't dieting, she's not working with a trainer. She's just eating healthy," says her rep about Clarkson's slimmed-down body (in 2003, left, and last November).
ROCK ON
"Throw something at me, I dare ya," says Clarkson, after going through the
American Idol experience. "Nothing can be as hard as when I didn't sleep for four days and was singing live on TV." The singer's newest challenge: a 35-city tour to support her platinum-selling album
Breakaway.
MAMA'S GIRL
An only child, Clarkson is extremely close to her mother, Jeanne Taylor, an elementary-school teacher. "There were always worries financially," says Clarkson of being raised in a single-parent household (her mom and dad Steve, a car salesman, split when she was in grade school). But since her post-
Idol fame, she's been able to help mom buy a house in Texas.
HANDS ON
Clarkson gets traditional in Thailand for the MTV Asia Aid event, which benefited the Southeast Asian tsunami victims (in February). Now she travels the world and is a multiplatinum-selling artist, but Clarkson says that before
Idol, she "was sending out demos, getting doors slammed in my face."
BLING'S THE THING
"There are no rivalries between me and Clay. It's like a sibling relationship," says Clarkson (accepting her platinum album award, for her debut
Thankful, from Aiken and second season winner Ruben Studdard in 2003). Last spring, the two
Idol vets hit the road for their 32-city Independent tour. What did Aiken learn about Clarkson while sharing a bus? "Don't wake Kelly up in the morning, because she wants to kill you."
STYLE SENSE
Clarkson says that during her first
Idol audition she had "flat hair and no makeup," but now she's a glamorous red-carpet presence (from left, at the World Music Awards in September; center, at an L.A. premiere in August; right, at the "Women Rock!" concert in September).
IDOL MOMENT
"I don't think I'll find anything more difficult" than winning
American Idol, says Clarkson (celebrating her victory in 2002).
SINGLE LIFE
With her hectic schedule, Clarkson (hobnobbing with Hilary Duff at a Las Vegas party in September) says she has no time for a relationship: "I'm so busy, it would be unfair." But who would be her ideal man? "Hugh Jackman, because he is tall, dark and handsome. He can sing, he has everything – but he is married!"
GROWING UP
She's come a long way, baby: Since her
Idol days, Clarkson has changed her appearance dramatically. She sports a girlish look at the Teen Choice Awards (left, in 2002), while she shows off a more sophisticated side at an appearance last month.
IN CHARGE
"I can sing in front of millions of people and not be nervous at all," says Clarkson (performing at the Orange Bowl's halftime show in Miami in January). Her philosophy: "If you can't have fun, why bother?"
All About Kelly (People.com Photo Feature) 
