Kelly Clarkson is still recovering from the absolute disaster of her first marriage. She married Brandon Blackstock in 2013, and ten years later, her divorce was finalized. There’s still a lot of legal stuff to get through – she’s suing him for mismanaging her career for years AND stealing money from her AND defrauding her out of lucrative deals and on and on. As Kelly has said before, she ignored a lot of red flags and she’s still crawling out of that completely sh-tty situation. But Kelly is still Kelly and she’s fundamentally a happy, perky optimist, so she’s on the cover of People Magazine this week with an interview about how she’s doing great these days.

Her latest album, ‘Chemistry’: When she started writing Chemistry, “I didn’t see it other than: This is my outlet. I’m a let-go person; I don’t hold grudges. So it was really delving into what happened in my life and why—and what am I going to do about it? I cannot express how appreciative I feel for having that kind of healthy outlet. Because the level of depression and things that come with divorce or grieving is extraordinarily hard. You feel alone, and it’s just a blessing to be able to have that outlet for those emotions that are overwhelming.”

Taking her power back: Finally releasing it “[was] like, ‘I’m taking my power back,’” Clarkson adds. “That sounds very therapy, but that’s because I love therapy, and I think it’s important to have those tools to navigate your life and relationships.”

Life in New York: Today as she builds her own village as a single mom in New York City, Clarkson, who is also an ambassador for Wayfair, is especially grateful for new beginnings. “Sometimes you don’t know what life has in store for you, and you think your life is going to go one way, and it’s OK that it doesn’t,” she says. “You never know how beautiful that might be.”

[From People]

I’m genuinely happy for her that she’s rebuilding her life and reclaiming her power, because Blackstock screwed her over in a million different ways. She sounds like she’s in a good place right now. You can also tell that she feels strong enough because she’s still suing the pants off of Blackstock. As part of her ongoing legal actions against Blackstock, Clarkson was deposed and she spoke about how her husband/manager told her she wasn’t sexy enough to appear on The Voice:

Kelly Clarkson claims her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock, once told her she wasn’t “sexy” enough to be a coach on “The Voice.” The “American Idol” alum, 41, said in court documents obtained by The Post Tuesday that she told the talent manager, 47, for years that she wanted to star on the NBC singing competition show, but he informed her that network executives were “looking for a more sex symbol type.”

Blackstock also allegedly told Clarkson that NBC wanted “someone sexy” like Rihanna over his then-wife.

The “Kelly Clarkson Show” host made the bombshell claim last year to a California labor commissioner, who ultimately ordered Blackstock to pay Clarkson $2.6 million for unlawfully procuring deals that should have been handled by her agents.

When Clarkson’s lawyer, Ed McPherson, asked how she was able to recall the conversation, the pop star replied, “Well, a wife doesn’t forget a time she gets told she’s not a sex symbol, so that stays.”

[From Page Six]

While I never watched The Voice, didn’t the show’s popularity rest more with the judges’ chemistry with each other? As in, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera and everyone else all had to get along and play-fight and be able to riff with each other? It had nothing to do with sexiness and everything to do with charisma and star-power, both of which Kelly has in abundance. This just shows that her ex negged her and was probably deeply emotionally abusive as well.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red, cover courtesy of People.