Kelly Clarkson is ~Miss Independent~ and nobody can change that! The talk show host recently recalled a moment on American Idol where she “got in trouble” because she didn’t want to get all glammed up like other contestants on the show.

“They were like, ‘So we’re about to be on camera,’ and I was like, ‘I know,’” Kelly, 41, said on the Monday, February 26, episode of Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett’s “Smartless” podcast. “And they were like, ‘But you’re going to be on camera,’ and I was like, ‘I know.’”

Kelly went on to say that she wore makeup to perform on stage but didn’t care to do so when they were filming “behind-the-scenes” content.

“One producer in particular, very high up, was not a fan of me just because I didn’t play that game,” she added. “And it wasn’t even playing a game. The other four girls that season were very into that stuff. They were very into it.”

The “A Moment Like This” singer then joked that she was “the most amazing person to tour with” because she was “never in the makeup and hair chair.”

“They would have to force me to sit there,” she said.

Kelly Clarkson Makeup Free
Kelly Clarkson/Instagram

Kelly wasn’t simply being rebellious, though. She had a fair reason to not like wearing makeup, noting that to this day she is “highly allergic” to anything that “gets near [her] eyes.” While she “doesn’t enjoy” wearing makeup, she said she “loves the art” that goes into it.

Kelly has always been known to keep it real for her fans, and she won’t change for society’s beauty standards. In 2018, she told People that her beauty mantra was, “Y’all, I just don’t really care!”

“And I mean that in a positive way. I just don’t care about things I feel like people put a lot of weight and gravity in,” she added. “I do thank my upbringing for that. I just, I care about things that I feel like are important. So my beauty mantra is just to be a beautiful, kind, nice and thoughtful [person].”

Kelly revealed that her mother influenced her view of beauty.

“[My mom] was never like, ‘Oh, you’re the most beautiful girl ever!’ She never focused on that. It was always a different kind of beauty with her and I think that’s why I’m kind of a walking Hallmark card about it,” she continued. “I really do think that, yes, it’s nice to look beautiful and it’s nice to get dolled up. But, it’s a different kind of thing when you get a smile from someone because you’ve done something that’s touched them. And I think that my mom complimented me in the best way growing up that wasn’t about aesthetics. It was about what’s happening inside and your character.”