Heavy/NBCUniversal "Voice" coach Kelly Clarkson admits she relied on unhealthy habits to cope during her divorce from her husband, Brandon Blackstock.
“Voice” coach Kelly Clarkson admits she relied on unhealthy habits to cope during her divorce from her husband, Brandon Blackstock.
“I don’t know how people get through anything like that because I’m not going to say I did it gracefully. Behind closed doors by myself, it was not,” Clarkson, 41, told Zane Lowe for Apple Music during an interview on June 21.
“Just to be brutally honest, I did not handle it well,” she continued. “I had many sessions with just my friends [where] I couldn’t even speak. I was crying so hard, even before separating. There were just a lot of now unhealthy habits you recognize or habits that you recognize that you didn’t see before. Hindsight is a lot easier.”
Clarkson is promoting her new album, “Chemistry,” which dropped on June 23.
Clarkson and Blackstock were married from October 20, 2013, to June 2020, per People. Their divorce was finalized in March 2022, the outlet added. They have two children together, River Rose, 9, and Remington Alexander, 7.
Clarkson joined “The Voice” during season 14 in 2018. She stayed on the series until season 21, and then returned for season 23, according to NBC. Clarkson has won the reality TV singing competition four times, per the publication.
In 2002, Clarkson sky-rocketed to fame when she became the season 1 winner of “American Idol” — beating out runner-up Justin Guarini. Her first hit became “A Moment Like This.”
Clarkson Said She ‘Desperately Tried’
The “Happier Than Ever” singer said she tried to save her marriage and went to therapy to find a solution to her marital woes.
“This album starts off with a song called ‘Skip This Part,’ And I literally say, ‘Can I skip this part?’ I literally said to my therapist [before the breakup], ‘We’re trying to figure it out. I desperately want to make this happen,’ but I think I knew in my heart it just wasn’t going to,” she told Lowe.
Clarkson said her children are still hopeful their parents will reunite.
“I literally ask my kids every night when we’re snuggling, ‘Are you happy? And if you’re not, what could make you happier?'” Clarkson said on the March 13 episode of “The Angie Martinez IRL Podcast.” “Sometimes they’ll say, especially the past two years, and it kills me and 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, ‘You know, I’m just really sad. I wish mommy and daddy were in the same house.'”
Clarkson didn’t give a specific reason why she and her ex-husband split, but an anonymous insider who spoke to People said quarantining together in 2020 at the start of the pandemic “exacerbated” their issues.
Clarkson Reveals What She Texted Blackstock About Her Divorce Album
Clarkson said he gave her ex-husband a heads-up about her 2023 album before it was released.
“I don’t even remember why or how it happened, but I was like, ‘Hey, I didn’t just diminish us down to one [thing],'” she told Hoda Kotb and Carson Daly on the “Today” show in June 2023. “You know what I’m saying? It’s all in there, the ride. The beauty is in there, as well. Now there’s a lot of pain, but that’s what happens for all of us.”
The singer said she was mindful of her children when writing the album.
“It’s very personal. And I’ve always released personal music — I think I’m that kind of writer in general, everybody knows that,” she said during the “Today” interview. “I think when you have kids — you both have kids, too — you kind of debate, ‘What am I going to do here?’ So I was very selective about the songs I picked for the album.”