Kelly Clarkson Admitted She’s Still ‘Not Comfortable’ Talking About Her Brandon Blackstock Divorce

It’s been two years since Kelly Clarkson officially divorced Brandon Blackstock after nearly seven years of marriage, but the wound still feels fresh to the 42-year-old singer. That sensitive experience in her life has allowed her to connect with the guests on The Kelly Clarkson Show on a different level.

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“It’s not hard for me to be vulnerable as a person,” she told E! News on Sept. 12. “But when it involves other people’s lives, that’s when it’s hard. You have to navigate that line of ‘Wait, is that OK?’ or ‘Can I talk about my kid with this?’” Clarkson understands the need for privacy after weathering through a contentious split with Blackstock, who was also her manager at the time .

“Like in my heartbreak, here’s certain things I’ll talk about and certain things I won’t,” the American Idol winner explained. “It’s not that I’m not comfortable talking about it. It’s just I don’t if other people are involved. It’s [about] how to toe that line.” Nobody understands that better than Clarkson, who had to endure two years of headlines about her split from Blackstock while protecting their two children, River Rose, 9, and Remington Alexander, 7.

The divorce took enough of a toll that she knew she needed to start over in a new city — that meant pulling up her roots in Los Angeles and moving her show to New York City. “I’ll be real honest: I thought I was making a horrible decision,” Clarkson told USA Today in October 2023. “I knew I needed a fresh start and couldn’t be in LA.” Her instincts turned out to be right and she gushed, “I genuinely love it, and I love that my kids love it.”

As for dating, Clarkson often talks about it with her guests, but she doesn’t seem quite ready yet. She told guest Hoda Kotb in March that dating doesn’t register with her “at all” right now. “I am really loving not having a man in my life. It’s just too hard, it’s too much,” she added. For now, Clarkson is relishing her single-gal era and raising her two children in Manhattan. She’s proud of the brave moves she’s made after her divorce from Blackstock, but there are still wounds that need to be healed.

Before you go, click here to see the longest celebrity divorces that took years to get finalized.