Don’t expect Christina Aguilera to ever sit in one of The Voice‘s famous red chairs again.
In a candid new interview with Billboard, the 37-year-old singer has less than positive comments about the hit NBC singing competition. Aguilera was a coach alongside Blake Shelton, Adam Levine and CeeLo Green for season one of The Voice, and stayed on for five more seasons between 2011 and 2016.
“It became something that I didn’t feel was what I had signed up for in season one,” Aguilera tells the magazine about her experience. “You realize it’s not about music. It’s about making good TV moments and massaging a story.”
The GRAMMY-winning singer says she felt restricted during her time on the show.
“I didn’t get into this business to be a television show host and to be given all these [rules],” she says. “Especially as a female: You can’t wear this, can’t say that. I would find myself on that show desperately trying to express myself through clothing or makeup or hair. It was my only kind of outlet.”
Aguilera refers to the show as an “energy sucker.”
“I was longing for freedom,” she shares. “[Coming home from set] I would just take everything off — the makeup, all of it — and would blast hip-hop, or Nirvana, ‘Creep,’ Slayer. Anything like that to get me out of that zone, that TV mode.”
Despite her unhappiness, the singer says she stayed on the show because she was comfortable, and for the sake of her kids — 10-year-old son Max and 3-year-old daughter Summer.
“Touring is so frightening to me, because I am a mom first,” she admits. “It’s part of why I stayed in the position I was [at The Voice]. It’s easy to get comfortable and cushy in the same place and not have to worry about uprooting your kids. I’ve been putting myself on the back burner.”
“It needs to happen,” she now says. “I’m looking forward to getting back out and actually showing my kids what Mommy really does!”
But Aguilera is grateful to The Voice for one thing — reuniting her with Pink, after their long-rumored feud.
“I was so excited — even she was like, ‘Why is she so excited to see me?’” Aguilera recalls of Pink’s 2016 appearance on the show as a guest mentor. “I was like, ‘Another female! There’s another vagina in the room! I’m so excited!’”
Meanwhile, a source from the show tells ET, “Christina was an incredibly valuable member of The Voice for many seasons and we appreciate all she did for the show. She’ll always be a part of The Voice family.”
In 2016, Aguilera became the first female coach to win the hit NBC competition series with her contestant, singer Alisan Porter. She later took to Snapchat to share a cute video with Levine and Shelton gloating about the win, taken during obviously happier times on the show.
Thursday was a big day for Aguilera fans, as the singer announced her long-awaited new album, Liberation, set to drop on June 15. This marks her first album since 2012’s Lotus.
Last month, Aguilera showed off her still amazing singing chops, appearing on James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke Primetime Special. Watch the video below to see her belt out a few of her bigger hits, plus dish on her time on The Mickey Mouse Club alongside Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.
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