Kelly Clarkson says being skinny doesn't make you happy

(Getty Images for dcp)

Kelly Clarkson has revealed that pressures to lose weight left her severely unhappy.

The US pop star has opened up about her struggles with body image after she won American Idol in 2002, calling it the “darkest time in her career.”

“When I was really skinny I wanted to kill myself,” Attitude magazine quoted her as saying.

"I was miserable, like inside and out, for four years of my life. But no one cared, because aesthetically you make sense," the chart-topping singer confessed.

Despite releasing a hugely successful debut album in 2004, Breakaway, Clarkson explained that she was severely depressed, after record label executives put pressure on her to stay slim.

Clarkson pictured at the Radio Music Awards in 2004 (Getty Images)

She admitted to spending all of her time in the gym, to the point where she damaged her knees and feet due to excessive running.

However, the “Since U Been Gone” singer has since taken to Twitter to clarify that she became very thin as a result of feeling unhappy, not the other way around.

She later denied that the pressures to lose weight had left her considering taking her own life, as her quote in Attitude implies.

“NOT TRUE. I’ve never contemplated suicide because of my weight. I said people had no idea I was unhappy oddly enough because I appeared healthy,” Clarkson wrote on Twitter.