AMERICAN IDOL - CLARKSON: 'MARRIAGE IS FOREVER'

AMERICAN IDOL winner KELLY CLARKSON has already ruled out getting a divorce - even though she isn't married and has never been wed before.

The MISS INDEPENDENT singer's father walked out on her family when she was six years old, and Clarkson refuses to allow any of her future children to grow up in a broken home.

She says, "My dad finally left us when I was six. He went to start a new family with a woman we all knew. My most vivid memory is of his back - him walking away from me.

"My biggest goal in life, apart from my career is to have a successful marriage. Divorce won't be an option."

But Clarkson tells British magazine Cosmopolitan she now gets along well with her dad: "I have a good relationship with both my parents now. They've been very supportive of my career and my dad cries every time he hears me sing. I have my mom to thank for making me self-sufficient, a survivor."