Kelly Clarkson Talks Eating Disorders, Guns And Ron Paul In NPR Interview

Kelly Clarkson had quite the revealing interview with NPR’s All Things Considered earlier this week, and her in-depth sit-down — in which she frankly discusses having an eating disorder in high school, her love of booze and karaoke, and why she sleeps with a gun at night — proves once again that the Stronger singer always tries to be her authentic self while being thrust in the spotlight. (And yes, she comments on that Ron Paul controversy: “Something I tweet makes CNN. That says something about our world right there.”) We’ve rounded up the seven best quotes Clarkson gave up for NPR listeners — read them below.

7 CLASSY QUOTES FROM KELLY CLARKSON’S NPR INTERVIEW

:: On why she turned down her first record deal offer at the age of 18: “The one contract that I was offered – this was my favorite thing ’cause I deal with it on the daily now – I literally weighed 124. They told me if I lost 20 pounds that they’d sign me. And I was like, wow. And I had, like, an eating disorder in high school for a bit, so it’s like, I think God kind of put me through that to, you know, make me stronger for when situations like that kind of come up and still come up, obviously.”

:: On why she owns nine guns and even sleeps with a Colt 45: “I live alone, so I’m not going out like that. I got no chance if some man breaks into my house.”

:: She’s easily convinced to pair up for karaoke when she’s intoxicated: “And by that time, I’m so drunk, I’m like, yeah, let’s duet. Like, I’m like dueting with people.”

:: On the whole Ron Paul Twitter frenzy: “I was, like, sitting at home with my brother watching Leno. And, you know, he was on Leno, and I was like, man, I was like, I like this dude. I liked him the last time around. I like a lot, you know, he believes in states having their rights, and I think that that’s very important. And I’ve always been about less government, and so I like him. And that’s – it’s as simple as that, man. That’s all I said. I was like, oh, man, I like Ron Paul. Too bad he’s probably not going to get the nomination, but I, you know, I like him. And then the whole freakin’ world, like, it went into a frenzy.”

:: On the bump in digital sales after her endorsement: “I did enjoy the sales, I’ll tell you that… I was like, hell, I’m going to start endorsing everybody… I was like I’m just going to start saying names about stuff to get people to buy my album.”

:: On her humble beginnings: “Oh, my God. I lived, like, on a mattress, like, with this crazy girl. We lived in, like, a room with, like, these people’s house and, like, they didn’t allow us to use their kitchen. So we had, like, a little refrigerator. Like, it was really funny… I had, like, four jobs. I worked for like, coffee shops, waitressing. I did extra jobs. After that four or five months of living out there, we saved money to move into this apartment. And literally, the day that the crazy girl and I moved into the apartment, it burned down.”

:: On the hardest part of being a pop star: “Literally, the answer is probably real sad, but it’s to just to be me. Like, it’s really hard, because I think people, you know, have a set idea of what a pop star should be. And my whole point is like, well, if I’m the pop star, then it should be whatever I am. There’s, you know, room for Katy Perrys and Adeles and Rihannas and Lady Gagas and Ke$has and me and Pinks. I think what’s great about all of us is that we represent something different.”

Listen to the entire interview here, and head to ONTD for a transcript. And get ready for Kelly to take over your TV when sings the National Anthem at the Super Bowl on February 5 and performs at The Grammys on February 12.