The following interview with Kelly Clarkson is taken from the latest issue of Reader’s Digest:

On making her albums:
“There’ve been a lot of cooks in the kitchen on all three of my albums. Everybody wants a success, so that’s great. On the other hand, the kitchen gets real crowded.”

On the RCA Records haters:
“They hated Miss Independent on my first album. It was No. 1 for six weeks, then they got behind it. They hated Breakaway. The song I wrote that they hated the most was Because of You. I fought and fought for it, it became successful and they finally got behind it. I’m not complaining, I’ll just say no until I get my way, and I did.”

On rumors that Clive Davis didn’t like her new album, My December:
“I just want people to hear it, instead of 100-year old executives making decisions on what’s good for pop radio. It’s people my age who listen to it. My gut hasn’t been wrong yet, so why wouldn’t I continue to follow it?”

On American Idol:
“I did my own hair and makeup for the first half of the shows. What you saw us wearing was our stuff from home. We’d be in a magazine under the heading ‘What Was She Thinking?’ I was like, I’m thinking I ain’t got no money.”

On money:
“I have saved and saved, and I don’t have to work another day. When I won Idol and started working with a business manager, she asked, ‘What do you want?’ I was like, I don’t ever want to have to make a decision because I need money. So we accomplished that two years ago, and I’m set.”