Is ‘The Voice’ Fake? Former Judge Christina Aguilera Reflects On NBC Show

Longtime fans of “The Voice” will remember when the show first premiered in 2011 with Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and CeeLo taking on the roles of judges for the series. While the “Accelerate” singer started off as a staple on the NBC series for the first few seasons, her appearances lessened over the years and eventually ceased altogether.

Rather than being fired from the show, Aguilera recently suggested she left because she no longer felt connected to her role due to the network’s superficial values and the struggle she went through to make the show inclusive.

During an interview with W magazine, the 37-year-old shed some light on what went on behind the scenes of the singing competition, which started off with only one female on the judges’ panel each season.

“I fought for a long time to get two females in the chairs. And, for a long time, I was just told it wasn’t the demographic. But just know that I was a fighter behind the scenes,” Aguilera told the publication.

“Once again, I found myself in that place where I’m being told what to do, what’s going to be acceptable or unacceptable, what’s okay or not okay. It’s like, God, you know, I’m a mother of two now. The genie is out of the bottle.”

Aguilera went on to reveal she doesn’t plan on returning to “The Voice” because the competition series no longer follows its purpose of discovering artists strictly based on their talent.

“I signed on to a show where the blind audition element was something interesting, something genuine. After a while, though, you start to see that everyone is good-looking,” she explained.

“It wasn’t a comfortable place for me to be, where I’m just part of a money-making machine. When I stop believing in something, then it’s like, What am I doing here? I think I did choose to, no pun intended, take a chair for so long and do something very commercial for my little ones,” she continued.

However, the “Fall in Line” artist admitted her children also inspired her to leave the show. “At a certain point I felt like I’m not even doing them a service by cheating myself and what I’m here to do. They should be seeing Mommy live her best life.”

Since cutting ties with “The Voice,” Aguilera has turned her focus back to her own music and is expected to release her eighth studio album, “Liberation,” on June 15.