During a candid interview, Kelly Clarkson opened up about how her divorce from Brandon Blackstock has impacted both her personal and professional life.
“It’s been the hardest thing to navigate. I’ve never had this difficult of a project,” Clarkson told the “Chart Show” with Brooke Reese on Apple Music 1. “It’s one of those things where I’m a human and I’m going through something huge. Obviously, everybody knows a huge divorce went through and it’s been like, two years and not easy with kids.”
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The 40-year-old mom shares daughter River Rose, 8, and Remington Alexander, 6, with the talent manager. In total, the couple had four children combined with Blackstock having two children from a previous relationship: Savannah, 20, and Seth, 15.
Clarkson filed for divorce in June 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage. In March, the divorce was finalized.
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For Clarkson, navigating the divorce “in the public eye” has made trying to balance motherhood “a whole different dynamic.”
In September 2020, the “Stronger” singer told “Today”‘s Hoda Kotb, “We have four kids total with each other. That’s a lot of hearts involved, and you just have to be really careful.… We’re in the public eye so that’s hard too, to try and be truthful but also keep your privacy.”
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It was difficult for Clarkson to process the divorce; however, she used songwriting to channel her emotions into music that is “completely honest.”
The singer-songwriter, who hasn’t released an album since 2017, excluding her 2021 Christmas album, explained that she’s “just navigating what I’m comfortable with releasing.”
“It’s just a hard thing to navigate. It’s coming,” she said of her new music. “I just got to get my crap together. I just got to figure out what I’m going to release.”
Elsewhere, Clarkson reveals her go-to karaoke song and chats about her cover of Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” that “hit home.”