Taylor Hicks is clarifying the seemingly flirty message he had for Kelly Clarkson.
“I think that’s manifested, not by Page Six or by us, but by somebody else,” the American Idol season 5 winner said in a Wednesday, July 1, interview with SiriusXM’s Page Six Radio.
Earlier this year, Hicks, 49, raised eyebrows when he flirtatiously responded to Clarkson’s revelation that she did not receive a car after winning the inaugural season of American Idol.
“I am a big fan of Kelly Clarkson and consider her one of the most incredible voices to emerge from American Idol,” Hicks told Page Six in March. “I would be more than happy to help her find a new Mustang.”
Hicks explained on Wednesday that he genuinely meant he wanted to pay it forward to Clarkson, 44, as she helped catapult the success of American Idol, paving the way for Hicks and other winners.
“As the show got bigger, Kelly, she was the first [winner]. She was the pioneer. So there [weren’t] that many sponsors. But when they got to my season, Carrie [Underwood]’s season … It was huge. It was such a big juggernaut. So there were a lot of sponsors,” the singer said. “We got a car, we got a Ford Mustang and Kelly didn’t. So I was like, ‘Let’s take Kelly shopping’ and they took it from there. But she’s a doll.”
During a March episode of Clarkson’s eponymous talk show, the “Since U Been Gone” singer revealed that the prize she got for winning American Idol was different from what she expected.
“I literally was on the show, and they were like, ‘Oh, you win a million dollars’ or whatever. No, you didn’t. It was, like, a million dollars worth of investment in you,” she said. “And then they said you get a car, and I needed it cause my car was bashed in, and I couldn’t afford the deductible. I did not get a car. And then Clay Aiken, who didn’t win the second season, got a car and his mom [also got a car]!”
While Clarkson did not get the American Idol prize she envisioned, her career has since flourished. Clarkson has earned three Grammys and 12 Daytime Emmys for her talk show, which will be coming to an end this fall.
As Clarkson has balanced a successful career, she is also the loving mother to daughter River Rose, 12, and son Remington, 10, whom she welcomed with late ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. (Blackstock died in August 2025 following a private battle with cancer. He was 48.)
Hicks applauded Clarkson for her “really great work ethic” as she has balanced everything that has been thrown at her.
“It’s not easy filming television, having two kids and then being able to mother without her ex-husband. Which is tough,” he said on Wednesday. “It’s a tough gig all around. But what a great run she had.”
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