Getty Kelly Clarkson
“The Voice” coach Kelly Clarkson’s divorce was settled in March 2022, and her children still have questions. In a July 5 visit to the “Podcrushed” podcast, Clarkson told co-hosts Penn Badgley (also the star of Netflix’s “You”), Nava Kavelin, and Sophie Ansari about what her children, River, 8, and Remington “Remy”, 5, have been asking her about her split from their father Brandon Blackstock.
While talking about different ways of thinking about “love”, Clarkson shared a story of her own, saying, “When you do go through a divorce, especially with young kids, the definition of ‘love’ comes up quite a bit. Because they’re like ‘Wait, so you don’t love Daddy anymore?’ and I’m like ‘No, no. I love Daddy, I love that Daddy gave me you two, we just don’t like each other like we did, and it’s just different.”
Kelly Clarkson’s Children Wonder Why Her Father isn’t in Their Lives
Clarkson went on to share that her children wonder about how the love between her and her ex-husband may differ from that between their mother and themselves.
“You see it in their face and so you have these conversations because they question, ‘Can your love change for me?'” Clarkson shared, “And then it’s hard when they go, ‘Why don’t we have a grandpa from you?’ And then it’s like ‘Well wait you told me that love was different with a parent and a child than with a husband and a wife’, and I go, ‘Well it is’ and [then they say] ‘Okay well it’s not because your dad left you.'”
Clarkson has spoken about her relationship with her father, Stephen, over the years. Stephen and Clarkson’s mother, Jeanne, divorced when she was six, and Clarkson did not have much communication with her father after this point. “I think if you don’t grow up with it, it’s hard to miss something you never had,” Clarkson said in an appearance on the Scandinavian talk show Skavlan.
Clarkson has also written about her relationship with her father in song lyrics, as well, including her hit singles “Because of You” and “Piece By Piece”. Clarkson began writing “Because of You” as a 16-year-old, using it as a way to express her feelings 10 years after her parents’ divorce, and the music video shows the story of Clarkson in a (fictitious) dysfunctional relationship, with flashbacks to her childhood self witnessing the troubles her parents went through in their relationship.
The “Piece By Piece” lyrics are more explicit, with Clarkson singing about her relationship with her now-ex-husband to her father, “But piece by piece, he collected me up/Off the ground, where you abandoned things, yeah/Piece by piece, he filled the holes that you burned in me/At six years old and you know/[…]/Piece by piece, he restored my faith/That a man can be kind and a father could stay.”
Fans React to Kelly Clarkson’s Children’s Questions
Clarkson shared a clip from her “Podcrushed” appearance on her Instagram page, and fans took to the comments to share their thoughts on her children’s questions surrounding her divorce.
“Dang, that’s a lot on your shoulders as a mom. It must be tough to watch your kids go through these thoughts and feelings, but know that allowing them to hear the truth and to feel/process it for themselves is going to ultimately be rewarding for them. There’s no one right way to live, to love. You’ll all be okay!” one user wrote.
“some real & deep conversations — you handle it so well ❤️” another user added.
“Thats a lot Kelly. Sending so much love to you beautiful. You are doing great,” a third user commented.
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