Singer and The Voice star Kelly Clarkson and her ex-husband and former manager Brandon Blackstock had quite the rollercoaster marriage before his heartbreaking death.
The news arrived a day after Kelly announced she was postponing her Las Vegas residency.
“Unfortunately, I need to postpone the remainder of the August Studio Session dates in Las Vegas,” she told fans on Instagram.
“While I normally keep my personal life private, this past year, my children’s father has been ill and at this moment, I need to be fully present for them. I am sincerely sorry to everyone who bought tickets to the shows and I so appreciate your grace, kindness and understanding.”
Brandon Blackstock dies age 48
Yesterday (August 7), Brandon died at age 48 following a private cancer battle. Sources told TMZ he had a serious form of skin cancer called melanoma.
“It is with great sadness that we share the news that Brandon Blackstock has passed away. Brandon bravely battled cancer for more than three years,” his family shared in a statement.
“He passed away peacefully and was surrounded by family. We thank you for your thoughts and prayers and ask everyone to respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time,” they added.
Kelly has yet to break her silence since the sad news. However, their relationship was filled with ups and downs…
Kelly and Brandon go way back
Long before forming a relationship, Kelly and Brandon first laid eyes on each other in 2006 during a rehearsal for the Academy of Country Music Awards.
However, they wouldn’t reconnect until 2012. while Brandon’s father, Narvel, was Kelly’s manager.
Kelly and Brandon’s first date was on February 11, 2012, which was the same day her idol Whitney Houston died.
The Breakaway hitmaker reflected on the day with People in 2013, explaining: “This is the funniest/worst thing ever: One of my superhero idols is Whitney Houston, and the day she died was our first date.”
“I was like, ‘This is a bad omen.'”
‘I’m engaged!’
10 months after their first date and Kelly announced she was engaged to Brandon after he got down on one knee at their home in Nashville.
“I’M ENGAGED!!!!!” she shared on X, formerly Twitter. “I wanted y’all to know!! Happiest night of my life last night! I am so lucky and am with the greatest man ever.”
In an interview with People, Kelly opened up about the proposal.
“Out of nowhere I just said, ‘Thanks for being an awesome guy.’ I’ve never been loved properly by a man, and I was just like, ‘I thank you so much for that,'” she said.
Kelly admitted she was not expecting Brandon to pop the big question.
“If I did, I would have worn something besides Uggs and a sweatshirt with no bra,” she added.
‘I’m officially Mrs. Blackstock’
In October 2013, Kelly and Brandon announced they tied the knot.
While sharing a wholesome photo from their wedding day to Instagram, Kelly told fans: “I’m officially Mrs. Blackstock 🙂 We got married yesterday at Blackberry Farms in TN, the most beautiful place ever!”
Before exchanging vows to Brandon, he already had two children — son Seth, 18 and daughter Savannah, 23 — with his ex-wife Melissa Ashworth.
While speaking to People, Kelly talked about embracing a blended family with her husband’s kids.
“My best friend always says, ‘You just want to create the family you never had.’ I might be doing that,” she said.
“In defense of my family, it happens. People fall out of love, and people go separate ways. People are human. I’ve accomplished a lot, but I guess the biggest success I want is that whenever I die people will say, ‘She was so successful as a mother and as a wife.’ That’s kind of a big goal.”
Kelly and Brandon start a family of their own
In June 2024, Kelly and Brandon welcomed their first child, daughter River Rose, nine months later.
“Our baby girl River Rose Blackstock arrived on June 12th!” she announced on X. “Thank you everyone for all of your well wishes! Brandon and I are on cloud 9!!”
Nearly two years later, the pair welcomed another child, a son, Remy.
Kelly revealed Remy had suffered from hearing issues and delayed speech. She said the hearing issue set him back “almost nine months”.
“The big milestone for us is Remy getting to really find out his own personality and his identity, because it’s been frustrating for him to not be able to really vocalise his emotion,” the Never Again hitmaker told People in 2020. “The fact that he’s making full sentences now and full-on engaging with us is really a blessing.”
Kelly and Brandon file for divorce
In June 2020, after nearly seven years of marriage, Kelly and Brandon surprised fans by filing for divorce.
They cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their sudden split.
However, it didn’t take long for things to get messy…
In November 2020, Kelly was awarded temporary primary physical custody of their two children. As reported by The New York Post, court documents stated, “the level of conflict between the parents [had] increased”.
It also noted they had “a difficult time co-parenting due to issues of trust between them”.
The documents also said Kelly and Brandon had agreed that they “shall not speak in a derogatory manner about the other parent to the minor children. The custodial parent shall not allow the minor children to be in the presence of any third party who speaks about the other parent in a derogatory manner.”
Messy legal battle
A legal battle soon turned ugly soon after Kelly was awarded primary custody of their two children in 2022, when their divorce was finalised.
According to Forbes, Kelly was ordered to pay Brandon $1.3 million, $45,000 per month in child support and $115,000 a month in spousal support until the end of January in 2024.
Clarkson claimed that Richard acted fraudulently as her manager. However, he denied this.
In 2023, Kelly won a California Labor Commission dispute against Richard and his management company, Starstruck.
As a result, Richard was forced to return her $2.6 million in commissions he had received after helping her secure contracts for many of her business ventures, including The Voice and Billboard Music Awards.
It was ruled that the deals should have been handled by a talent agent.
Brandon allegedly said Kelly wasn’t ‘sexy’ enough for The Voice
In the US, Kelly served as a coach on The Voice. Despite winning on the show four times, it was reported that her then-husband claimed she wasn’t “sexy enough” to have the job.
According to court documents viewed by The New York Post, Kelly told her then-manager Brandon that she wanted to be on The Voice for years. However, he allegedly informed her that the network executives were not interested because they were “looking for a more sex symbol type”.
In court, Kelly was asked by her lawyer Ed McPherson how she remembered the conversation. In response, the American Idol winner said: “Well, a wife doesn’t forget a time she gets told she’s not a sex symbol, so that stays.”
Kelly joined the NBC talent show in 2018.
‘Hard time’ for kids
In June 2023, Kelly admitted on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast that the divorce was always going to have an impact on their children.
She insisted that staying together for the sake of them wouldn’t have made things easier for anyone.
“Your kids will still have a hard time. It doesn’t matter if you stay, it doesn’t matter if you go, I am still having conversations [with my kids] three years later,” Kelly said.
“My kids just came back from my ex and any time there’s mention of maybe him being with somebody else…they are just really adamant about keeping that dream alive that we might still be together one day.”
‘Grieving is extraordinarily hard’
In 2023, Kelly released her latest album, Chemistry, which reflected on her split from Brandon. While talking to People the following year, she said writing the album was like “taking my power back”.
“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?” she revealed.
“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.”
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