AMERICAN IDOL - IDOL STAR KELLY BOOSTS SELF-ESTEEM CHARITY

AMERICAN IDOL star KELLY CLARKSON has signed up as a spokeswoman for America's National Association for Self-Esteem, because she knows what it's like to look and feel terrible.

Long before she became a pop pin-up, Clarkson was a chubby, bespectacled teenager with braces and bad dress sense.

And Clarkson used to rely on her self-esteem to get past the derision of cruel classmates.

She says, "I begged my mom for contacts. We didn't have much money, but she finally set me up to get some.

"It's little things like contacts that help people feel more comfortable inside and out."