David Archuleta’s life after American Idol wasn’t always easy. Speaking to People about his memoir, Devout, the Idol runner up revealed the personal struggles he was going through at the height of his fame.
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“I didn’t feel like I deserved to take care of myself,” Archuleta told the outlet. “So even though I was having a lot of success in the public, I was sleeping in my car a lot of times because that’s what I believed I deserved.”
Archuleta’s challenges were partially due his queer identity, which was at odds with the Mormon beliefs he was raised with. That’s so true, in fact, that Archuleta opted to live in his car instead of with a relative or at a hotel.
“I had concocted this belief that I didn’t deserve to treat myself well,” he writes in his book, per the outlet. “It was an act of contrition—for my wicked thoughts, for allowing myself to be manipulated by so many.”
“I was at the height of fame, and I chose homelessness,” he adds. “You can have everything, but worthiness comes from within, and I had none.”
Archuleta decided to make a change after a police officer found him in his car and recognized him.
“That experience did force me to acknowledge that living this way might have consequences beyond what I already knew,” he writes. “I could see the headline now: ‘American Idol Finalist Sleeps in His Car!’”
David Archuleta Opens Up About Getting Past Challenges
Eventually, Archuleta left the Mormon church and came out as queer.
“It’s nice to look back and be like, ‘I got through that in my very imperfect way of doing it, but I made it through it and I found a way to feel better about myself,’” he told the outlet. “And even if I wasn’t able to accept it at the time, I can look back 16, 17 years later and say, ‘I worked my ass off. I worked as hard as I could.’”
“Even feeling miserable through all that and feeling ashamed to even be there, I worked as hard as I knew how to,” Archuleta added. “I’m just grateful to be alive and to see what I can do with my life while I’m here. It really feels like starting again.”
In a 2025 interview with American Songwriter, Archuleta reflected on his healthy state of mind.
“I think before I was like, ‘I have to change in order to accept myself and feel comfortable with myself,’” he said. “… I’m now just embracing and confidently letting myself sit in, so it’s nice to do that… It’s not about changing. It’s about embracing who you are.”
Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images
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