Divorce is usually a very tricky business, especially when children are involved. Former spouses have to either decide on or have a judge make a ruling on things like the division of property, and other financial matters such as alimony and child support, as well as how custody of the kids will be divided. Kelly Clarkson has seen several wins with her divorce from music manager Brandon Blackstock recently, but it’s now being reported that the two are co-parenting in an awkward way, as they don’t agree on how to spend the holidays.
The dissolution of Kelly Clarkson’s marriage to Brandon Blackstock surprised many of her fans when it was announced in the summer of 2020, and quickly became a contentious affair. They’ve done a lot of fighting over several aspects of the divorce, but now that Clarkson has had primary custody of their two kids (River Rose, 7, and Remington, 5) for almost a full year, an unnamed source has told OK! that Blackstock would like to celebrate the upcoming holidays as a family. As the source noted:
[He] is urging Kelly to put aside their differences and celebrate the holidays together with their kids. But she has zero desire to be on civil terms with him and isn’t ready to play nice. It’s no surprise Kelly still isn’t over their nasty divorce battle. Just the thought of a family get-together with fake smiles and small talk makes Kelly sick. She doesn’t want to spend a single second with him if she can help it, Christmas or not.
From the outside, this might sound harsh of Clarkson, if true, but the fact is that Blackstock did attempt to put the singer through the wringer in their divorce proceedings. Not long after she filed for divorce, his company, Starstruck Management, sued her for what they claimed to be unpaid commissions, to the tune of nearly $5.5 million dollars. That locked her in a legal battle with her ex-father-in-law, who owns the company, as well as Blackstock in matters not directly related to their divorce.
Blackstock later attempted to have Clarkson continue to pay for their Montana ranch, which he had chosen as his new home, and also tried to have the prenup he signed before their 2013 wedding invalidated, so that their assets would be split equally, instead of each party leaving with only what they made during the marriage. But, the judge ruled against him, and not only was the prenuptial agreement upheld, but it was ruled that all Montana properties actually belonged to the popular pop star and talk show host.
Basically, Kelly Clarkson has had to fight quite a bit during her divorce, so it makes a lot of sense that she wouldn’t want to spend any joint time with her former manager, even for the sake of the kids. Though, as the source noted, if spending the holidays with Blackstock will involve “fake smiles,” the tension between them is likely to show through, and might not be the best environment for the kids, anyway.
