Simon Cowell earned notoriety during the early aughts for sharing his harsh feedback on American Idol. Yet the media personality has sustained a successful presence within the reality competition circuit. Now, he’s taking a moment to reminisce about Idol's first season on Fox (which aired in 2002) as well as its breakout star, Kelly Clarkson. Cowell also explained how Clarkson’s star power -- and her likeability factors -- helped the show avoid flopping.
Ahead of the release of his upcoming Netflix show, The Next Act (for which a trailer was recently released), Cowell chatted with Rolling Stone about the various competition shows he's been a part of. Naturally, American Idol, the small-screen juggernaut that kicked off the singing competition show craze, came up. With that, Clarkson's victory during that inaugural season was also mentioned. All in all, Cowell, seems to have positive feelings about how Clarkson closed out Season 1, saying:
