Why Kelly Clarkson Hopes Her Kids Don't Compete On Reality TV Shows Like American Idol

Kelly Clarkson performing on The Voice screenshot 2018

Kelly Clarkson had a run of hits in the early 2000s, thanks to appearing on a little show called American Idol. The singing competition queen also has two seasons of The Voice coaching under her belt, but if you ask her whether or not she'd want her kids to compete in the same way, she'll bluntly tell you no. In fact, she knows she's such a perfectionist when it comes to music that she hopes her kids don't get into music at all. She said during a recent conference:

I seriously hope they're tone deaf. I'm afraid of what kind of mom I'd be. I think I'd be like my mom: 'It was good.' You know? And I loved it, I think that's why I'm such a hard worker and why I aspire to keep pushing myself. I love my mom for it. But I think I'd be like her. I'd be like, 'Yeah, I've heard better but it was solid.' And I don't want to be like that.

That sounds like classic stage mom behavior, but it would likely be worse from someone like Kelly Clarkson, who has spent her whole career competing and then coaching competitors on the art of singing. To her credit, Kelly Clarkson seems to know how she would behave should her children choose to appear on a competition series.

She also spoke out in a press conference (via Country Living), noting that she really hopes her kids decide to avoid the music business altogether.

I hope they're, like, teachers or doctors or something. It's a hard industry. I warned Brynn's mom, I warned [Chevel's] mom. I'm like 'Hold onto them!' Hug them, tell them really nice things, cause people are mean. That's horrible. It's a reality.

Chevel is Chevel Shepherd, a 16-year-old contestant who just won The Voice under Kelly Clarkson's tutelage and whose mother apparently got some advice from the famous singer.

Kelly Clarkson may not be churning out hits like "Since U Been Gone" and "Stronger" these days, but she tours often and a more recent song "Love So Soft" was nominated at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. She's also raised her profile again by appearing as a coach on The Voice; in fact, her contestants have won two seasons in a row now. This makes her the only female Voice coach to have won multiple seasons.

So, clearly, she might be a tough critic, but she's doing something right.

Kelly Clarkson has been candid about how getting famous was hard for her. She told Howard Stern in a wide-ranging interview over a year ago that she was broke at various points before winning American Idol and found the process of becoming super famous to be rough. Once she had a small breakdown over the fact she couldn't go out and get milk without people coming up to her anymore.

If her kids don't become famous, they will always have more anonymity than Kelly Clarkson likely will ever have again.

All in all. Kelly Clarkson may not want her kids to be in the music business, but it will be some time before they have to decide. Her daughter River Rose was born in 2014 and her son Remy came along a couple of years later in 2016. They have a long time before they are full grown and deciding whether or not music will be their path after all.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.