‘American Idol’s Hannah Harper Responds to ‘Assumptions’ Made About Her

Hannah Harper was thrust into the spotlight as a contestant on Season 24 of American Idol, and she’s quickly had to learn to adapt to life in the public eye. While she now has thousands of fans following her on social media and voting for her on the show each week, she’s also had to deal with criticism from the haters, and she revealed how she’s learning to block out the noise.

“It’s overwhelming,” Hannah admitted. “Especially growing up in church and singing on a platform where you’re only singing for the Lord and not singing for feedback … it’s crazy to put yourself in a position where you have to be vulnerable and accepting that they could rip you to shreds. They could absolutely hate what you’re doing.”

While Hannah said allowing herself to be vulnerable with the world has “hurt at times because people will make assumptions of who they think I am as a person,” she added, “It’s OK. I think the biggest and healthiest thing for me to realize is that not every single person will get to know me on a deeper level and still be comfortable with them having opinions on who they think I am. That’s been the hardest part for me.”