Caleb Lee Hutchinson is a winner, however you look at it.
A lot has changed for the 19-year-old country crooner in the past few years. Apart from winning the nation’s hearts during his American Idol run — and the heart of one newly crowned Idol winner, Maddie Poppe — Hutchinson has lost almost 60 pounds.
On Tuesday, he opened up on Good Morning America about that weight-loss journey.
“I was just kind of being a young man and getting through a time in my life where I had to figure out a lot of things like what I would do with my life after high school,” he said of his time prior to Idol. “I had a lot of things in my life I was unhappy about and so I dealt with all those things and the weight was kind of an accident that just happened to be part of it.”
Hutchinson revealed that he had already lost a significant amount of weight by the time he debuted on the Idol stage — and how he managed to do it.
“Before I went to Idol I lost, like, 40 pounds,” he said. “I was on the journey when I got there. It was just simple stuff like cutting fried foods and drinking water and working out three hours a day.”
At a taping in April, Hutchinson told ET’s Lauren Zima that losing the weight was something he could feel proud of.
“You know, it’s a journey, its not an overnight thing. And throughout my life it’s gonna be something I deal with,” he said at the time. “Just in this past year of my life I’ve really tackled a lot of things that I put off, and I feel like I’m becoming a man I can be proud of and like I’ve been prepared for this moment that I’m in.”
The Georgia native shared his dramatic transformation from the beginning of the season to its end, in an Instagram post last week.
“Swipe to see me shrink…,” he captioned it.
Hutchinson also talked about falling for his co-competitor, Poppe: “I saw her and instantly knew I was into her,” he revealed.
“I saw her and instantly knew I was into her… I just had to take some time to convince her.” – @calebleemusic on his girlfriend and #AmericanIdol champ @MaddiePoppepic.twitter.com/6fxwC0iqDL
— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 22, 2018
Zima again caught up with the cute couple after Monday night’s finale, where Hutchinson dished on his reasons for keeping the budding romance quiet.
“It was one of those things where I didn’t want it to affect anything,” he said. “I didn’t want to exploit my feelings for her ‘cause they’re very, very real. Once voting was over, I was like, ‘Shoot, I want the world to know.’”
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