Kelly Clarkson Spoke Out About Her Divorce for the First Time on Her Talk Show

From Country Living

Although Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock filed for divorce in June 2020 after seven years of marriage, the couple's relationship story is one of music-industry magic. The pair first met at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2006 where Kelly was rehearsing for a duet with Rascal Flatts, and Brandon was there as the country group’s tour manager. It took a few years for their relationship to move beyond the friend zone—it wasn’t until a meeting at the Super Bowl six years later that the relationship really took off.

How Kelly and Brandon met

In 2012, Kelly and Brandon's romance kicked off at Super Bowl XLVI thanks to Brandon’s father, Narvel Blackstock (who was previously married to Reba McEntire). He manages Kelly and reintroduced them after his son’s divorce. "Brandon is my manager's son. I've known him for six years, but he was married for most of that time," Kelly told The Daily Mail in May 2012. "Then, suddenly, there he was at the Super Bowl and he was single…"

Kelly recently reflected on the start of her romance with Brandon while looking back at her fashion evolution over the years.

"Right when I got those bangs was right when I started dating my husband," she explained in an interview with E! News. "I remember that because my Super Bowl performance, that was, like, our first time we started flirting. And I was like, 'I'm so into you, make out with me!'"

Kelly was there to sing the National Anthem at the sporting event, and the duo's mutual understanding of the music industry immediately bonded them. "He works as crazy-hard as me, if not harder and so doesn’t get in a mood if I can’t always call when I say I will," Kelly said later that year, adding that she had “high hopes” for the relationship.

Brandon proposes to Kelly

Within 10 months of dating, Brandon popped the question with a gorgeous yellow canary diamond. “I'M ENGAGED!!!!!,” Kelly tweeted her fans on December 15, 2012. “I wanted y'all to know!! Happiest night of my life last night! I am so lucky and am with the greatest man ever :)"

Just over a year on the anniversary of them meeting (again), Kelly told Cosmopolitan in June 2013 that she was confident she would spend the rest of her life with her fianće. “Brandon's totally the one," she said. "I've never been so happy."

Kelly and Brandon get married

Four months later, in October 2013, the couple tied the knot at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee. Kelly confirmed the nuptials with a photo from her big day on Twitter saying, “I'm officially Mrs. Blackstock :)."

The singer recently shared more details from her and Brandon's wedding on her talk show, admitting that they "totally ended up eloping."

"We had this big plan and then we just took our kids and then got married with this person we didn't even know—but it was the most amazing thing—under a little barn on a river. It was so beautiful!" she shared. "It's cool to make it intimate, because your life is always in the public eye."

The singer also shared with fans a heartwarming video of their wedding set to Patty Griffin’s "Heavenly Day.”

The Clarkson-Blackstock family grows

On June 12, 2014, Kelly gave birth to their first daughter together, River Rose Blackstock. “Brandon and I are on cloud 9!! :)” she wrote on Twitter.

Two years later, she again shared on social media the birth of the couple’s second child, their son Remington Alexander Blackstock.

Kelly embraces her blended family

Prior to that, Kelly had already been taking on the role of stepmom to Brandon's children from his first marriage, Savannah and Seth Blackstock. In 2016, Kelly told Ryan Seacrest in a radio interview how much she admired her husband as a parent.

"Watching my husband love on his daughter all the time, you know, go to her events and just be there and, like, be present is, like, hard to watch but beautiful to watch," she said on the live broadcast. "I know that my kids are going to have that."

Just as Kelly plans to always be there for her kids, they show up to support her as well. In April, she turned a red carpet appearance into an adorable family outing with Brandon and all four of their children.

Living in a blended household with four kids is no easy task, but it has not affected how much time the couple makes for one another. Kelly was featured on the cover of Redbook’s December/January 2018 issue and shared, “To keep it family appropriate, let’s say we’re just a lot more active than other couples. I’m a person who loves change. He loves spontaneity. Having a set time or place [to have sex] would be boring to us. I had never found someone I was truly passionate about, who I wanted to stay in bed with all day. The fact that I did, well…I was going to latch on and take advantage of that.”

Although the married couple seem to be getting a lot of practice, it’s unlikely that a third baby is in their future. “Oh God, those tubes are gone!” she told People. “That’s blasphemy. We don’t even speak of it. We’re both fixed in our own ways, yet still we’ll probably get pregnant again somehow.”

Brandon is a supportive husband

Kelly hosted the 2018 Billboard Music Awards last year—a very exciting milestone in the singer's entertainment career. Her husband was there to cheer her on, right in the front row, along with stepdaughter Savannah. This was a somewhat rare appearance for Brandon, as he's kept a generally low profile in the past and isn't often seen with Kelly on the red carpet.

However, he does occasionally step on stage during her shows. Kelly was belting out her hit, "Piece by Piece" at recent concert on her Meaning of Life tour. The song is already emotional for Kelly, as she wrote it about her estranged father who recently passed away.

That said, you can imagine her reaction when Brandon snuck out onto the stage while she was singing. Her husband surprised her with a guitar in hand, and quietly took the place of her usual guitarist. When Kelly realized what was happening, she could barely keep it together.

"That’s my amazing husband," she said as he walked off stage when the song was over.

Kelly and Brandon file for divorce

According to Entertainment Tonight, Kelly Clarkson filed for divorce from Brandon Blackstock, her husband of nearly seven years, on June 4, 2020. ET confirmed that Kelly cited "irreconcilable differences" and asked for joint custody of the two children the couple has together, River, 5, and Remington, 4. (Brandon also has two children from a previous marriage.)

Kelly spoke out for the first time about the divorce when her talk show premiered for its second season. "As you probably know, 2020 has brought a lot of change also to my personal life," she said. "Definitely didn't see anything coming that came, but what I'm dealing with is hard — it involves more than just my heart, it involves a lot of little hearts."

She continued to share more about how she would be prioritizing her children throughout the divorce process: "We know the best thing here is to protect our children and their little hearts. So I'm usually very open and I usually talk about everything but in this case I will talk a little bit here and there about how it affects me personally, but probably won't go too far into it because I'm a mama bear and my kids come first."

Kelly said that she'll be channeling her emotions into her new album, which she hinted would be her "most personal" project yet.

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