If you're a fan of the singing competition show The Voice, you definitely know country singer Blake Shelton.
Besides having a hilarious friendship with Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine, Blake is also an insanely talented and successful artist. He had a career even before the show aired in 2011.
It's almost impossible to think that someone as successful as Blake almost threw in the towel before his career took off.
Ryan Seacrest asked Blake about his childhood and being in beauty pageants on November 3, 2017, when Blake stopped by Live with Kelly and Ryan.
The country singer was embarrassed to admit that his mom used to put him in pageants so that he could sing. But he was even more embarrassed as a kid and revealed that he wanted to quit singing so he didn't have to be ridiculed anymore.
"There's only like five kids in my school so yes, we all knew what each other did," he told Kelly and Ryan.
Keep scrolling to see what else Blake had to say about his childhood.
Blake Shelton, 41, made his debut in country music in 2001. His first hit song, "Austin," was at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart for five weeks.
Since then, he's sold over 10 million records worldwide and 1.7 billion streams.
It seems like Blake was destined to be a star.
You may recognize Blake as one of the judges on NBC's The Voice, where a member of his team has won five out of the 12 seasons.
Blake has also been dating fellow The Voice judge and pop singer Gwen Stefani since 2015.
But when Blake was around 7 or 8 years old, he almost gave up his true calling of being a great country music singer.
Blake sat down with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest and admitted he was close to throwing in the towel as a child because kids used to make fun of him.
When he was little, his mom put him in beauty pageants so he could sing.
"I hated it so much that I almost didn't want to be a singer anymore," he confessed to the hosts. "I was like, 'Mom, I'm good, I don't like singing. I changed my mind!'"
Blake also said that it was embarrassing for friends to know that he was in beauty pageants.
"You get beat up when you go to school," he said. "And I would hit them and I would get beat up."
Thankfully, Blake continued singing, which led him to an amazing career.
Now, Blake just gets teased by his fellow The Voice coaches.
With 86 total awards won over his career, it seems like Blake made the right decision to not let bullies get him down.
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