All About Kelly Clarkson's Kids, River and Remington

From ELLE

Kelly Clarkson is currently in the midst of a divorce from her husband of six years, Brandon Blackstock. Entertainment Tonight and The Blast reported that Clarkson filed for divorce on June 4, citing irreconcilable differences. After the couple's 2013 wedding, they welcomed two children together—six-year-old daughter River Rose and four-year-old son Remington Alexander. Clarkson also became a step-parent to Blackstock's two children from a previous marriage—Savannah, 18 and Seth, 12.

Ahead, what we know about Clarkson's children and how the family is doing amid quarantine and the couple's divorce.

Clarkson is spending time with her children after filing for divorce.

Since the coronavirus pandemic sent the world into quarantine, Clarkson has been filming her NBC talk show (of which Blackstock is a producer), from home. That means both River and Remington have made a few remote appearances. In Clarkson's first Zoom interview, she spoke with Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick about their new movie, Trolls: World Tour. During the conversation, both of the kids pop into the call to voice their love for the animated movie.

Per People, Clarkson has been focusing on spending time with her kids in Los Angeles since filing for divorce. "She has been low-key and mostly stayed at home," a source told the outlet. "She seems to be doing okay."

Last August, Clarkson spoke to the magazine about moving her family from their home in Nashville to Los Angeles. "It was kind of a big decision for us, but it just seemed like a new adventure, honestly," Clarkson told People.

Her daughter River is a talk show host in-training.

Blackstock and Clarkson welcomed their first daughter together, River Rose, on June 12, 2014. Since then, River hasn't shied away from her time in the spotlight, appearing in music videos for Clarkson's songs "Broken & Beautiful" and "Piece by Piece."

When asked about her daughter for People's Beautiful Issue in 2018, Clarkson referred to River as "bold" and "progressive." The proud mom added, "She will run a company one day because there’s no way she’s gonna work for anyone. She does not heed advice very well. She’s just very ballsy, which is awesome."

Before she assumes control of a corporation, River may take over Clarkson's talk show. In April, the then-five-year-old hosted her own virtual segment of The River Rose Show. “Hi everybody! I know there’s a snickness going around," River began, mispronouncing the word 'sickness.' "And we can’t be together, but it’s okay, we can still call and we can still, when you’re sleeping, you can still dream about each other and I hope you’re doing fine."

Her son Remington has been described as having a "sensitive soul."

On April 12, 2016, Clarkson welcomed Remington Alexander (or Remy as she often calls him on social media). When asked by People to describe Remy at age 2, she labeled him the "sensitive soul" of the family, but that he also has an adventurous side. "You will melt, you will be like, 'Ugh,'" Clarkson explained. "[But] like our oldest, I think he's gonna be more the athlete, just like, 'How can I knock something over?' He’s like the Tasmanian Devil— anything that can and will be destroyed, is."

The Grammy winner has also been open about her son's developmental struggles. Last month, Clarkson told People about a speech problem Remy had as an infant because of his difficulty hearing properly. "We found [out] it was something simple, but it pushed him back almost nine months," Clarkson told the outlet. "So we've been working really hard with his speech and he's still doing his speech therapist via Zoom. The big milestone for us is Remy getting to really find out his own personality and his identity, because it's been frustrating for him to not be able to really vocalize his emotion." She also celebrated the fact that her son is "making full sentences now and full-on engaging with us."

Clarkson is also a stepmother to Savannah and Seth Blackstock.

When Clarkson and Blackstock married, he was already a parent to two children from a previous marriage. During an On Air with Ryan Seacrest interview, Clarkson described becoming a stepmom as "so different, but it's perfect." She added, "I actually really dig the mom thing … I am quick to go, 'I told you not to touch that!' I am totally my mom. My mom was a hard mom."

According to Savannah's Instagram, she's an accomplished equestrian, who regularly competes in horseback-riding competitions.

Meanwhile, Seth is more of an entertainer, joining Clarkson onstage for a 2015 concert to sing and dance along to a cover of Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk." That same year, Clarkson even took Savannah and Seth to meet Ariana Grande backstage at a concert.

Clarkson's kids are regularly incorporated in her work.

Clarkson juggles many roles, including performing artist, talk show host, and The Voice judge, and parent. Naturally, her children have found their way into Clarkson's work over the years. In April, Blackstock sent a video message to Clarkson for her birthday, alongside River, Remington, and Seth. "Just now seeing this and I am bawling! They’re all so cute! I’ve had a bit of a rough week and this just turned it around," she captioned the video, which her show's Twitter account posted.

Last fall, the kids made an appearance on Clarkson's talk show twice in one week. Before that, Clarkson published a pair of River Rose children's books that are inspired by her eldest daughter—River Rose and the Magical Lullaby and River Rose and the Magical Christmas.

A desire to have more children reportedly played a role in Clarkson and Blackstock's split.

A source spoke with ET about what may have contributed to Clarkson and Blackstock's breakup. Per the insider, differing opinions about expanding their family was a factor. The pair "realiz[ed] the relationship hasn’t been working for a while," the source said. "Kelly and Brandon work together non-stop and that became a contention in their relationship. Brandon is the EP of her show as well as her manager. Also, Kelly has always brought up wanting more children, which Brandon doesn't."

That reporting runs contrary to an interview Clarkson gave WKTU’s Cubby & Carolina in the Morning in 2017. "Oh God, those tubes are gone!" Clarkson said, via People, when asked by the radio hosts about having more kids. “That’s blasphemy. We don’t even speak of it.” She added, “I always feel bad because I have friends who have a hard time getting pregnant and I’m just like guys, I have the worst pregnancies ever, it can’t happen again!”

Clarkson says her children are going to therapy to help cope with the divorce.

The talk show host has kept things understandably private when it comes to her split from Blackstock. But during a recent appearance on told Extra, Clarkson spoke about the way she's helping River and Remington through the transition.“It’s just one day when you’re like, ‘Wow, this has forever changed,’ and it’s not just my heart [that] has changed. There’s other little hearts, too,” she told the outlet, via Us Weekly. “It’s a very hard thing to navigate, to be able to be honest and share your story, so maybe you can help someone else [by speaking up], but at the same time protecting these little kids you adore,” she added.

Clarkson also said that she's encouraging her family to feel all of the complicated emotions that go along with a divorce. “We have a lot of help as far as therapists or child psychologists because we want to do it right,” she said. “Everyone’s sad and it’s okay to be sad.”

You Might Also Like

• 10 Pairs of White Sneakers That Go With Everything

• 50 Surprising Things You Never Knew About 'Sex and the City'

• 20 Serums to Solve All Your Skincare Problems