The details of Kelly Clarkson's surprise divorce from Brandon Blackstock, her husband of seven years, have started to leak out, and it sounds like their marriage may be yet another casualty of quarantine. Kelly and Brandon have been spending the past few months with their kids in Montana, a move that was meant to help them work through their problems. Instead, it sounds like the opposite happened.
A source close to the couple told Entertainment Tonight that "Kelly and Brandon had been having problems for several months and were making a conscious effort to work things out. They both hoped quarantining away from L.A. in Montana would help them work things out in their marriage, but instead the change in environment was actually detrimental."
The source went on to add, "The constant time together seemed to make an already challenging situation worse." Kelly's work had been helping her feel grounded while the couple struggled. Since work is on pause, she was kind of stuck.
Kelly and Brandon are committed to focusing on their kids and co-parenting together. "They are both heartbroken, but their plan is to put the kids first. Their focus is on co-parenting and moving forward, as this is the last place they ever thought they would be. They both understand divorce is never easy for children, but Kelly and Brandon are great parents. It'll just take time."
While Kelly may have sought refuge in work, earlier this year she told People that their work schedules often taxed their relationship: "My husband and I were actually talking a lot of pillow talk over months and months of time. Because we also lived in Nashville, so it was a big move for our family to move to L.A."
"We ended up moving our whole family out here. It was kind of a big decision for us, but it just seemed like a new adventure, honestly. My husband is a really good salesman on ideas. He's just really good at pointing out things that maybe will push me out of my comfort zone, which is why we're really great partners in life as well."
Kelly has been working as a judge on The Voice, and she launched her own talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, in 2019. Brandon is Blake Shelton's manager (and Kelly's). So a move to Los Angeles made sense for the couple, since they were already spending so much of their time in the city.
Kelly also shared that even when the family is on vacation, there's still work involved. "Even the show here, he has his own office. I have my own office. And he's always on the phone … he's always working. When we vacation — we just took our first family vacation and had a really good chunk of time because we knew things were about to be really busy. He goes off and does stuff with the kids, and then I'll do something else with the other two. We do a really good job of being like, 'I need some me time.'"
Kelly has cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the divorce, and she is petitioning for joint custody. She also requested that she be allowed to change her legal name — Kelly Blackstock — back to her maiden and stage name, Kelly Clarkson.
While speaking to Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager on the Today show in April 2020, Kelly hinted that social distancing and spending so much time at home wasn't great for her. "I make jokes and I smile a lot … but it is a very hard thing for such an extrovert that's used to living a schedule every day … Just being trapped and not supposed to be around other people is a very damaging thing to your psyche."
So far, Kelly and Brandon have not released an official statement about their split. Kelly filed for divorce on June 4, and the pair put their Los Angeles home on the market in May 2020.
Kelly and Brandon got married in 2013, after getting engaged in December 2012. They dated for about 10 months before their engagement.
This was Kelly's first marriage and Brandon's second. Brandon's ex-wife, Melissa Ashworth, has often said very positive things about Kelly and Brandon in the press, and the group seem to have a wonderful co-parenting relationship established for Melissa and Brandon's two children.
In May 2020, Kelly told Seth Meyers that celebrating her birthday while at home was extra hard this year. "I literally looked at my husband, 'cause it was a rough week of work and nonstop everything, and I said, 'I don't want to cook one meal. I don't want to clean one article of clothing. I don't want to do anything.' I possibly — if my children were to come in and hug me, that's fine and then they leave. So, on my birthday, I literally asked to be left alone. … So I was alone and I enjoyed it."
