Kelly Clarkson opened up about her divorce from Brandon Blackstock on a recent podcast. The divorce, which was filed in 2020, was settled a year ago. The couple has two children, River Rose, 8, and Remington Alexander, 6.
Kelly said in the podcast, “It rips you apart whenever you fall in love with someone, and it doesn’t work.” She elaborated, “I think the thing about divorce — especially having it publicized, and people thinking they know the whole thing — the hardest part of that is, like, it wasn’t an overnight decision.”
Clarkson added, “Anyone that’s been divorced [knows]. That was years in trying to make — not make it work, ’cause I never wanted to be part of something to ‘make it work.’ I wanted to make it beautiful. I wanted to make it awesome. I wanted to make it everything it possibly could be, and sometimes that just doesn’t happen.”
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She said, “I ask my kids every night when we’re snuggling, and I put them to bed, ‘Are you happy? And if you’re not, what could make you happier?’ Especially the past two years. It kills me, [but] I want them to be honest, so I don’t ever say, ‘Oh, God, don’t tell me that,’ but a lot of times it would be like, ‘I’m just really sad. I wish Mommy and Daddy were in the same house.’ They’re really honest about it. I’m raising that kind of individual.”
And Clarkson understands where her kids are coming from, “I just sit there, and I’m like, ‘I get it. I’m from a divorced family as well. I get it. That sucks. But we’re going to work it out. And you are so loved by both of us.’ I think [it’s important to be] communicating with them and… not treating them like an adult, because they’re not, but not treating them like a child. They’re not small feelings. Those are huge feelings, and those are huge emotions.”