Kelly Clarkson is continuing to rebuild herself following her highly publicized divorce from Brandon Blackstock, who she was married to for nearly a decade. After the two settled their divorce, they reportedly filed legal complaints against each other once again. Clarkson has previously stated that she remained married to her ex longer than she should have. And, now, the former The Voice coach is getting honest about whether she has any regrets about how everything has played out.
She and Brandon Blackstock tied the knot in 2013, and the Grammy winner ultimately filed for divorce in 2020, with that being settled in 2022. In November 2023, the "Breakaway" singer was awarded money from her ex for commissions paid to him for business deals he received as her manager and has since wondered if she's owed more. Even in the midst of all that, a source tells People that the singer has no regrets about her divorce and is in a great place in her life right now:
She is doing really well. She is happy that she left LA for NY, She has the primary custody of the kids and is a great mom. The divorce was difficult, but she recovered quickly and has no regrets.
The mother of two took a major step in 2023 by moving The Kelly Clarkson Show from Los Angeles to New York. Based on what she's had to say about that change, she seems happy about it. Additionally, Clarkson's talk show has been crushing it, though her divorce-inspired album, Chemistry, didn’t do as well as she may have hoped. Still, all signs currently point to the entertainer feeling good about the decisions she's made over the past few years.
Last summer, she appeared on the podcast We Can Do Hard Things, opening up about her marriage and divorce with hosts Glennon and Amanda Doyle and Abby Wambach. During the chat, she admitted why she stayed with Brandon Blackstock as long as she did. While laying that out, she listed two elements that factored into that:
I can do this, and I can reach this person, and I can get through. And it becomes a little bit of your ego that gets in the way.
While it may have taken some time to come to terms with the situation, once the American Idol winner did finally get out of her marriage, she was able to see changes in her life. She’s now realized aspects of her relationship were not healthy, and even her team, at one point, saw that she was a whole new person when that weight was lifted:
Even all the things that you had accepted as ‘that’s normal’ were incredibly unhealthy. And abusive, like almost, you know? It’s like without anyone knowing or whatever, people just living their lives how you live them, how they’ve acted their whole life, like you don’t even recognize it. And then you get out. And I remember we were at the photoshoot for ‘ Chemistry.’ Without giving too much away, even being at that photoshoot… even my whole team was like, ‘Oh my god, there you are.’
As the songstress tries to move on from that chapter from her life, she is staying plenty busy. Her talk show is continuing to thrive, and she's still a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the music space. She just recently went viral for covering Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake,” which left Perry joking about possibly retiring the song due to how great the cover is.
On a separate note, John Legend previously admitted that if he were to have a double coach chair on The Voice, he’d want to join forces with Kelly Clarkson. But there’s no indication that Clarkson will be returning to the series any time soon, especially now that her show is filmed in New York. Whatever lies ahead for Clarkson, though, one can only hope that she'll be able to move forward in a way that she finds to be healthy for her.
