Adam Lambert sexed-up performance at the American Music Awards is still a hot topic of discussion around the watercooler, but the talent show alum says he wasn’t always the envelope-pushing glam-rocker that turned the AMA on its ear.

“I suffered from a little bit of an ugly ducking complex in my early twenties,” the “For Your Entertainment” star told Morning Jolt’s Larry Flick on Sirius Radio Tuesday. “When I was in high school I was 250 pounds and that creates some stuff … some body image stuff, some confidence issues, and I got a lot of my confidences from validation I got as a performer,” he explained.