Kelly Clarkson’s feelings about Avril Lavigne are slightly complicated. The pop star spoke to Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show on Wednesday, November 1, and revealed that she was resented by many other singers early in her career because they thought the original American Idol winner didn’t pay her dues on the path to fame.
“I got elbowed in the face by someone I was giving an award to at the VMAs,” Clarkson explained, without revealing at first who hit her. However, Stern later revisited the topic and asked if it was Lavigne.
Although Clarkson has never spoken about the encounter, there are numerous YouTube videos of the alleged incident, in which the “Complicated” singer appears to duck a hug from Clarkson at the 2002 VMAS and pushes her out of the way with her elbow as she grabs the award Clarkson had presented her.
“It was her,” Clarkson responded to Stern. “But I will say this: Years later I saw her and she said, ‘Oh my gosh, people keep saying I elbowed you in the face and I’m so sorry!’ And I don’t know… she did it… but I don’t know if she felt bad about it, or she didn’t mean to do it, or what… but it felt purposeful!”
“I think what I was bummed about is I’m a fan of hers,” Clarkson continued. “I loved her music.”
Despite her past feelings on the alleged encounter, Clarkson has moved on. “She did apologize. So I will say that,” Clarkson said of Lavigne, who wrote the Grammy winner’s 2004 hit “Breakaway” off of her album of the same name. “Honestly, I’m still a fan. I’m not mad at it.”
