With talk shows coming back online, hosts and guests are having to address all the stories that came out during the pandemic, like the many splits, including that of Kelly Clarkson and her husband, Brandon Blackstock. Not all the relationships that ended came as a shock, but Kelly’s announcement surprised me. I had no idea, which I attributed to me not focusing too much attention to Kelly or her personal life (I adore Kelly, I just wasn’t paying attention). But after Kelly’s opening monologue Monday, it sounds like the end of her marriage was just a big ol surprise to everyone, not the least of whom was Kelly herself.
A lot has happened since “Since U Been Gone” singer Kelly Clarkson has, well, been gone from her talk show.
It’s been six months since she last appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show and on Monday’s season two premiere, she opened up about her “dumpster fire” of a year.
She told her virtual audience, “2020 has brought a lot of change also to my personal life. Definitely didn’t see anything coming that came.”
She told her guests, “What I’m dealing with is hard because it involves more than just my heart. It involves a lot of little hearts. We have four kids.” The Voice judge continued, “And divorce is never easy. And we’re both from divorced families so we know the best thing here is to protect our children and their little hearts.”
Clarkson admitted she’s “usually very open” about her personal life, but in this case, she “probably won’t go too far into it because, you know, I’m a mama bear and my kids come first.”
Accepting that I work in gossip and a juicy divorce story is good for business, I really am okay when folks decide to shut their business down, especially when it involves kids. I’ve held the hands of a few friends who divorced, and that kind of pain does not need the scrutiny of a public forum. So I completely respect Kelly’s decision to stay schtum on this. While I respect her right to privacy, admissions like “definitely didn’t see anything coming that came,” catch my attention. I understand struggling to make the decision to actually leave, but one usually knows if their marriage is in a downward spiral. Being blindsided generally indicates an incident occurred that served as a catalyst. And those incidents usually rhyme with Madultery. And although Kelly said she won’t talk much about the divorce, that doesn’t mean we won’t learn what happened. Kelly said her mother told her to use her emotions in her songwriting, which she’s been doing, saying, “so I probably won’t speak about it too much, but you definitely will hear it musically probably.” So we will definitely probably find out what happened when we interpret Kelly’s song lyrics.
You can see Kelly’s monologue here. She does sound very healthy about it, which is reassuring. Below is a clip that Emily from DListed provided. It’s Kelly’s intro in which she covers theme songs from old tv shows. A collection of the cast members from those shows are in the virtual audience and like Emily, the whole thing made me tear up, not the least of which is because those are all the shows I’ve been watching to pick me up during lockdown as well!
Photo credit: YouTube and Instagram
Could also rhyme with “smecret smaddiction“, a lot of which are coming to light with people suddenly in constant close quarters.
Oh, eek. Maybe. Whatever it is, my heart goes out to her. She’s lovely and seems very sweet.
I had no idea they had four kids! Seems like she was just pregnant for the first time.
I hadn’t heard this – who’s the addict?!!
Their four kids are the two they had together and the two he had w his first wife.
Oh, got it, thanks. 🙂
I was thinking that maybe he was just plain miserable holed up with her and the kids. Some people have low tolerance and just want out.
“Rhymes with madultery” LOL
Well I DID see this coming and I’m only a casual gossip hound. There were rumors about him from the beginning.
Same. The infidelity allegations have been out there for quite a while.
Oh yeah he has a reputation.
Yeah the rumors got especially bad when she was pregnant the first time if I remember. I was hoping for the best. However, them the best might be divorce.
She looks so good in the pictures and video. It looks like she has lost “emotional weight” and just seems overall looking healthier.
This isn’t a comment on her body, but her demeanor and just how she is carrying herself.
I agree. I don’t know or think it’s important if she’s lost actual pounds, but It looks like an emotional weight was lifted from her.
Divorce is hard, but it’s so much better than resigning yourself to a joyless or frustrated life. I’m always so proud of my friends who do it. Not because it’s fun or a good choice for everyone, but because it’s a step toward happiness for them.
He seemed shady from the get-go. Not a fan of divorce, but a fan of being right together. Kelly will find someone else better suited who doesn’t look like he has one foot in and one foot out.
If it was adultery, I really hope that she found out about past cheating and not that he was risking their whole family’s health and safety by cheating in the midst of a pandemic.
Ok, it feels a little gross to have a “hope” about cheating, but hopefully you all know what I mean.
I got all nostalgic listening to that TV show mashup. Some of my all-time favorite shows. 💕
Maybe Kelly needs to connect with Natalie Maines from The Chicks to debrief her ‘madultery’ and get some tips on a making a divorce album…. Gaslighter is an amazing album!
Looks like Kelly is well shot of what’s his name ….
Gaslighter is a gift! I’m here for Kelly’s album if she takes that road. Burn it down & pave your path.
One of the things I heard was an issue, is that her and her soon to be ex, are on different sides of the BLM movement which was a shock to her and was something they couldn’t overcome.
I think there was a blind item, that even Celebitchy covered, that mentioned at least one celebrity couple was splitting up due to disagreements over BLM. When Kelly announced her divorce shortly after, I immediately thought of her.
I saw that blind but had thought it was about Armie Hammer and his wife. She is supposedly very conservative and he’s the liberal black sheep in his family. That marriage/divorce has lots of other rumors swirling around it too, though.
Whatever caused the split, I hope they stay on good terms for the kids.
I’m sad for her though, especially if she was blindsided by this. She seemed so happy with him, but it must have been something bad for it to be that quick and definitive.
I am curious why people jump to adultery or addiction, but there’s never a whisper of possible abuse. 20% of marriages have instances of physical abuse, & that is not counting the percentage of emotional & psychologically abusive marriages. People are stressed & quarantining together, so I’m humbled by the reality that many women may be dealing with abuse on a scale they haven’t before, with no way to escape the home, except divorce. Who knows what the reason is here, but I give kudos to any woman who finds her freedom from whatever reason.
I think because none of those three reasons are good, but abuse seems especially bad to speculate about. You could argue that it’s not great to speculate that someone is an addict or an adulterer, but I think it’s worse to think someone is abusive, IMO.
Being blindsided may also be due to the other party being a people pleaser. My therapists have talked about this. I’ve read a lot about it that being a personality type that tells their partner what they want to hear for months on end, then abruptly exits when they hit their breaking point. I’ve been blindsided and sometimes you truly just do not know what the other person is thinking, even if you ask, when they aren’t being honest with themselves.