Kelly Rowland Opens Up About Being Compared To Beyoncé; “I Would Torture Myself In My Head”

Singer Kelly Rowland candidly spoke on her years of living in comparison to longtime friend Beyoncé during a recent episode of The Voice Australia.

To encourage contestant, Chris Sebastian who stands in the same shoes, Rowland—an original member of the 90s R & B group Destiny’s Child, recalled her own challenges of living in someone else’s shadow.

During the recent episode, Sebastian addressed his fears of being overshadowed by his older brother, pop-star Guy Sebastian, a feeling the “Motivation” singer admitted she could relate.

“I know this feeling. Can you imagine what it’s like being in a group with Beyoncé?” she told Sebastian. “I would just torture myself in my head.” Rowland said the constant comparison against her childhood friend and bandmate caused her to second-guess her own choices, CNN reports.

“I can’t wear this dress because they’re going to say it’s like B.’ Or, ‘I can’t have a song like that because it sounds too much like B.’ They’re gonna compare anyway,” she recalled and admitted she “would be lying” if she said it never bothered her. She described Beyoncé’s higher fame status as the “elephant in the room” for “a whole decade.”

“It was the thing that would constantly be on my shoulder,” she added. Yet still, she stressed to Sebastian that he could not fret over things beyond his control.

“This is your opportunity to carve your own path, even with [your big brother] sitting in that chair down there,” the Grammy-winner told him.

Rowland has since paved her own way as a solo artist since the group’s end and has released four studio albums including, 2002’s Simply Deep, 2007’s Ms. Kelly, 2011’s Here I Am, and 2013’s Talk a Good Game. And in April, she released her new single, “Coffee.”