Kellie Pickler photo by Kristin Barlowe, courtesy of Sony BMG.
April 3, 2008 - With her song "Things That Never Cross A Man's Mind" now in country music's Top 15, Kellie Pickler has earned three hits off her debut album. And she believes a big part of her success is directly related to her launch as a competitor on "American Idol."
"TV does something," she told The Tennessean. "I know I can speak for Carrie [Underwood], too. That show really helped both of us, because people were watching us every single week. They were able to see us, rather than the only place they could see [us] is in the store on the shelf. It was almost like they got to know us."
And in Kellie's case, they got to know so much that many fans feel invested in her career and her private life. She disclosed some of the difficulties in her family, and she even made public statements about her relationship with hockey player Jordin Tootoo. As a result, she's found that many strangers feel the need to play Dr. Phil to her.
"Random people in a grocery store will come up and tell me what I should do," she said. "'Oh, you should have left him a long time ago.' It's weird ... They don't know anything but a paragraph they read in the paper."
As a result, she's learned that her fame also carries a bit of responsibility: "I have to keep my big mouth shut about anything personal."