Former American Idol finalist and country singer Kellie Pickler is about to fulfill one of her long-time dreams -- becoming one of the celebrity contestants on Dancing With the Stars.
When the show's 16th season begins on March 18, Pickler will be paired with Derek Hough.
"It's going to be a lot of fun," Pickler, 26, told OK! Magazine. "It feels great to be associated with such a talented group of artists and athletes who are willing to challenge themselves in this new way in front of a national audience."
The country singer has long hoped to become a DWTS contestant, and this year, it happened to be good timing.
"I have wanted to be on the show for a while now, but we didn't have to lobby," Kellie told OK! "I've been asked to be a contestant for the past few seasons. This year was just the first time I was able to compete while still touring and recording."
In 2008, Pickler told OK! about her desire to be on the show. "I would love to do Dancing With The Stars," she told the magazine five years ago. "Wouldn't that be fun? Oh yeah! That would be so fun. It's only a couple months. It's not like you're signing on for the rest of your life. It'll be fun. I used to do gymnastics for a while, and you know Julianne [Hough] on Dancing With The Stars and very successful. She's a great dancer. I think I told her I thought it would be fun."
Pickler has released three albums since her time on American Idol. Her third album, "100 Proof," which came out in Jan. 2012, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
When she was an American Idol contestant, she was only 19 years old, The Christian Science Monitor reported -- and since then, she has greatly matured.
Great American Country describes her this way: "If fans relate to Kellie, it's because she's always been an open book. She wears her heart on her sleeve and is never hesitant to discuss her past and its impact on her present. Her story is now familiar. She was raised by her grandparents in tiny Albemarle, NC. Her mother abandoned Kellie and her father was incarcerated much of her young life."
Pickler isn't the only country singer who will appear on DWTS this season. Wynonna Judd told USA Today that although she spent many months caring for her husband, drummer Michael Scott Moser, who lost his leg in an August motorcycle accident, she is ready for showtime.
"I went from hanging up my cute, little newlywed clothes that we were going to be wearing while we travel and do things as a married couple and I turned into the nurse/mom/wife/caregiver. And I think I forgot myself. I just wasn't putting myself on that list," she told the paper. "After meeting with the folks from Dancing With the Stars, I said, 'You know what. I'm going to do this, because I'm ready to be hyper-focused on something for me.' ... It's about self-care."
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