'American Idol' Contestant Turned Instagram Star Quigley Reveals Show Made Her Stop Singing for Years

Instagram influencerQuigleyis speaking out about her “humiliating” experience onAmerican Idol.

Though the experience brought on a great deal of pain and stress, the social influencer noted on Wednesday that she learned valuable lessons from the setback that helped her develop into one of Instagram’s most well-known personalities.

“There might have been mention of how I looked ‘pretty’ or ‘cute’ but it was clear they thought that I was not a good enough singer or performer to be on the show,” she wrote, referencing the judges’ frequent mention of her appearance in their critiques. “I was heartbroken and humiliated.”

Casey Carlson now Casey Goode a.k.a Quigley onAmerican Idolin 2009.R Mickshaw/American Idol 2009/Getty Images for Fox

After getting cut from the show, Quigley said she returned home to Minnesota where she felt “lost and confused and so unsure of what the future held for me.”

“It took years before I was able to perform again- to sing again… to put myself out there,” she style star wrote.

It wasn’t until Quigley made the decision to move to Los Angeles and later met with Larry Rudolph,Britney Spears‘ manager that she began to change her perspective on the situation.

“[Rudolph] told me that if I played my cards right ‘American Idol would be a FOOTNOTE in my bio.’ I’ll never forget that day,” she recalled. “Until then, I thought I would never be able to be BIGGER than the show. I let the show define me… it was the STAR of my story.”

“But on that day, I realized it was MY STORY- and I needed to write myself back into it,” she continued. “I put my whole heart into my music. I wrote hundreds of songs in years. I performed in arenas and on stages in front of thousands of people.”

Despite getting back into music, Quigley said she still struggled with self-worth and acceptance in a male-dominated industry.

“I still hung onto a lot of pain- deep down inside I felt like as a woman… the only piece of value I brought to this world was on the ‘outside,'” she explained. “Writing sessions with a different man every week exhausted me. I felt like success in the music industry would only lead me to more pain.”

As a result, Quigley decided to once again step away from music, where she eventually found her new passion as an Instagram influencer and has been able to look back at her personal progress with pride.

“Part of it was fear- but part of it was my heart aching to be free of the pressure to ‘make it,'” she wrote. “I’m not sure I’ll ever make music or sing with the same joy I did as a child. But my purpose has shifted now…”

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“I don’t need success or fame or a stage to WRITE. My message is and always has been to lead with LOVE and empower women, and now INSTAGRAM is my stage,” she finished. “I couldn’t feel more full looking back on how far I’ve come in ten years.”

Quigley.Casey Good/Instagram

“Oh my goodness 😭 💛 love this and love you so much friend 💛💛💛 you are so amazing and where one door closes, there is always another one waiting for you to open up ✨ so proud of how far you have come 💛💛💛” added someone else.

“I’m so glad your experience from American Idol brought you HERE. To all of on here that need you and support you 100%. You touch so many people on here with your charisma, beauty, and encouragement,” said another user.

In theIdolseason that Quigley competed on,Kris Alleneventually went on to win the title whileAdam Lambert, who is currently touring withQueenas their frontman, finished in second place.

Quigley, meanwhile, has accumulated over 186,000 Instagram followers since her start on the platform and will be teaching an online class calledSoulcial Media: A Mindset Class for Social Media Content Creatorslater this year.

source: people.com