An Axe-Wielding Kelly Clarkson Joked About Her Divorce As She Reunited With The Voice Rival Blake Shelton

It’s been less than a year since we last saw Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson share the screen, as they both appeared on the cowboy’s final season of The Voice. The chemistry artist definitely hasn’t lost any of the competitive spirit that fueled her rivalry with Shelton, which she proved on the Season 2 premiere of Barmageddon, the show created by the cowboy and The Voice host Carson Daly. The episode saw a spirited Clarkson making jokes about her divorce, as she hurled axes at a target during a hilariously intense competition with Michelle Rodriguez.

Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton were known to troll each other pretty hard as coaches on The Voice, but when they reunited for his game show on USA Network, it was all fun and games (and shots), as the American Idol OG faced off against The Fast and the Furious star Michelle Rodriguez. During Drunken Axehole, Kelly Clarkson seemed to channel some of the pent-up rage of her split from Brandon Blackstock, as she hurled axes at a target with startling force. After the first round, her civilian partner commented on her ferocity, asking, “Kelly, who hurt you?” To which Clarkson replied:

She was, of course, talking about her album chemistry, which was released in June and contains apparently only a fraction of the crazy number of songs she wrote after her marriage ended. It took nearly two years for Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock to agree on terms that included custody and child support for their two children and ownership of Clarkson’s Montana ranch and other property.

Axe-throwing seemed to be quite the therapeutic experience, and I’d imagine that was especially true of Barmageddon’s amped up version, which included wearing “beer goggles” and also hurling saw blades. Kelly Clarkson admitted as much to Carson Daly, saying:

Release and healing seem to be things that Kelly Clarkson has actively sought out since her divorce. The Emmy Award-winning host of The Kelly Clarkson Show has opened up about needing to make changes to her life. For one thing, she changed her legal name to Kelly Brianne and made the decision to relocate her talk show to the East Coast.

She also quit The Voice, and her comments about how she was struggling on the show and didn’t “feel like smiling” anymore makes me think Season 23 wasn’t just Blake Shelton’s final rodeo on the singing competition, but Kelly Clarkson’s as well. As unfortunate as that is for longtime fans of The Voice like me, I was just happy to see the two of them palling around with Carson Daly one last time on Barmageddon.

The Voice crossovers don’t end there, either. Gwen Stefani is set to go head-to-head with her husband when Barmageddon returns next Monday, November 20, at 11 p.m. ET on USA Network. Be sure to check out what other premieres are headed our way with our 2023 TV schedule.