Kelly Clarkson was forced to sleep in car before ‘American Idol’ fame

Moving to Los Angeles to pursue her music career has certainly made Kelly Clarkson stronger.

The singer, 41, got candid about her early work struggles, including the time when she left her Fort Worth, Texas, hometown to audition for a little show called “American Idol.”

On a recent episode of her eponymous talk show, “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” with guest Kevin Bacon, she revealed that she had to sleep in her car after her apartment burned down.

“I actually moved out to LA with some random person I did not know,” the “Miss Independent” singer said.

“Really?” the “Footloose” star, 65, asked.

“Yeah, she just needed a roommate. I was like, ‘I’ll do it,’ and I moved from Texas to LA with a random stranger,” Clarkson recalled.

“[My home] burned down, so yeah,” she continued. “Then, I slept in my car for a few days and then tried out for a show called ‘American Idol’ so it all worked out.”

She adds that others in Hollywood tend to have a “crazy story” before making it big.

”You’ve really got to want your dream,” she noted. “The universe makes you really want it.”

Clarkson famously won the inaugural season of the Fox singing competition series in 2002. 

Bacon gave his own tale of living in squalor before reaching fame. He joked that he lived in a New York City “flophouse” in 1976, when his apartment budget was a mere $150 a month.

Once the future Golden Globe winner scored a listing, he went to look at the building. But then he realized that the abode was actually too pricey for him.

And so, the next best thing to do was to ask a stranger if Bacon could be his roommate.

Bacon and the man lived together for four years and remain friends to this day.

“In fact, I just had lunch with him the other day,” the “Apollo 13 ” actor said.

Clarkson was a finalist on “American Idol” with Justin Guarini, with whom she then co-starred in “From Justin to Kelly.”

Guarini, 45, told Page Six in September about his experience on the reality show.

“Being taken with yourself in some way, shape or form is unavoidable in that situation,” he said, noting he was “full of” himself at the time.

He added: “I’m a human being, I may have gotten full of myself at a couple of points and I was humbled by life and I took my lessons and learned.”