Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are indisputably the top two most successful and influential contestants, winners or otherwise, to come out of the American Idol franchise.
Both hold strong positions of power as women in music and, as a result, have often been pitted against each other in the media for the very same reasons.
Kelly, 41, made an appearance on the latest episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and shared a surprising admission about their relationship, which you can watch in the video below.
"People always pit us together, and we don't even know each other that well to be pit against each other," she said in response to a question from a fan.
"There's no beef between us, there's nothing between us, we don't even know each other."
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The fan further asked about what it was like to have her as a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show, where Carrie stopped by in December 2020 while promoting her first Christmas album, My Gift.
© Getty Images"It was awesome, it was great to have her on the show," Kelly responded. "People always pit us against each other, and I don't know why they do that. They don't do that with dudes, they do that with females!
"I'd love to have her there in person, because it was during COVID and it was over Zoom. Which is fine, but it'd be cool."
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Kelly won the inaugural season of American Idol back in 2001 while Carrie, now 40, won the show's fourth season in 2005.
© Getty ImagesIn terms of pure sales and net worths, the two reign supreme, with each having acquired multiple top ten hits, several number one albums, and 10 Grammy awards between them.
Back in 2020, when they were on Kelly's talk show together, the 'Blown Away' hitmaker revealed she almost didn't audition for Idol in the first place.
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"It was kind of like once things started taking off, then the thought of me going to Hollywood by myself, and I'd never been on a plane before…
© Getty Images"It was very unlike me to just go for it," Carrie shared. "And it was scary. So I definitely had a moment of 'What am I doing? It's easier to stay home.' But I wouldn't be doing anything I'm doing now."
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Kelly has been quite open about her journey since Idol as well, reuniting with the runner-up on her season, Justin Guarini, on her show back in January.
© Getty ImagesThe two got close during their time on the show and have remained friends ever since, even appearing on-screen together in the ill-fated From Justin to Kelly.
Speaking of their time on the singing competition, Justin said: "It's wild because we got shot out of a cannon. But I loved just being around and the fact at the beginning of things."
© Getty Images"And we didn't know," Kelly added, saying that it was "pretty cool" given the stakes weren't that high for either of them in the competition's infancy.
