Kris Allen married his best friend from middle school.

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Kelly Clarkson adopts many rescue animals including dogs, goats, pigs, and donkeys. She told People she rescues them "because there's so many animals that get left behind, nowhere to go." Some of the animals she's rescued came home with her blind and deaf (but lovable all the same). She's also trained to sell vacuum cleaners.

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Before she won the third season of American Idol, Fantasia Barrino was living on food stamps and government checks. She made it to the first audition on fifty borrowed dollars. After she won, she played Celie in The Color Purple, released two albums and published a memoir, Life Is Not a Fairy Tale.

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Carrie Underwood was a junior in college when she auditioned for Idol. After the show was done, she returned to school and graduated with a degree in mass communications.

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Having a rough boyhood (divorced parents, gray hair at 14) Taylor Hicks drew inspiration from Ray Charles. During the Spring his allergies were so severe when he was little, he had to stay inside while his friends played outside. "I escaped," he told Celebrity Scribe, "by listening to Ray Charles...His voice touched a raw nerve in me. Whenever I find the going a little rough, I think about how hard life must have been for Ray – this brilliant, blind, black man trying to find his way in an extremely racist world."

Growing up, David Cook started a Ninja-Turtles club where they would charge 25 cents for bully protection. They made 25 cents.

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Lee DeWyze released two albums before winning Idol. In 2007 he released So I'm Told, and in 2010, Slumberland. Both albums were released on his independent record label, WuLi Records. 

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Clay Aiken taught special ed before a co-worker convinced him to audition for Idol. He is the co-founder for The National Inclusion Project, a non-profit that works to make the inclusion of disabled individuals a reality. Check out our video about the project here: