Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock’s Relationship Timeline, Explained

With the news of Kelly Clarkson’s ex-husband, talent manager Brandon Blackstock’s death, fans of the American Idol winner are reflecting on their love story. The former couple share two children, and despite their contentious divorce, Clarkson put past issues aside to support Blackstock amid his private three-year cancer battle, missing work from her talk show and postponing the remainder of her Las Vegas residency after he passed.

Blackson died at the age of 48. At one point, he managed Clarkson’s career during their time together.

Their first meeting

Clarkson first met Blackstock in 2006 at the Academy of Country Music Awards. At the time, he was married to Melissa Ashworth. Clarkson was immediately drawn to him. “I’ve only had three other boyfriends that I dated, and not really seriously,” Clarkson told PEOPLE in 2013. “This guy walks by, making everybody laugh. I said, ‘I’m gonna end up with him. I know it.’ “

While going through a divorce from Ashworth, whom he shares two children with, Blackstock and Clarkson reconnected in 2012 at the Super Bowl and began dating. It was the first time Clarkson said she’d been in love. 

Their first date was on the day one of her musical idols died. “This is the funniest/worst thing ever: One of my superhero idols is Whitney Houston, and the day she died was our first date,” Clarkson said of their first date on Feb. 11, 2012. “I was like, ‘This is a bad omen.’”

Reconnecting and finding love 

Wedding bells ring

10 months after their first date, Blackstock and Clarkson were engaged. She happily announced the news on Twitter. They wed in October 2013.

Then comes the baby carriage

A month after exchanging nuptials, Clarkson and Blackstock announced they were expecting their first child. Their daughter, River Rose, was born in June 2014. In April 2016, they welcomed a son, Remington Alexander.

The fairytale comes to an end

After seven years of marriage, Clarkson filed for divorce in 2020 citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was brutal, with issues surrounding finances, property and custody. Clarkson was awarded primary physical custody of their two children. Blackstock was awarded $200,000 a month in spousal and child support, as well as 5% of the sale of their Montana ranch. The divorce was finalized in 2022. Eventually, Blackstock was ordered to pay Clarkson $2,641,374 for unlawfully procuring deals as her manager that should’ve been handled by a talent agent, which included her contracts with The Voice, Norwegian Cruise Line, Wayfair and the Billboard Music Awards.

What caused the divorce

Clarkson said her decision to file for divorce came after some time. During an appearance on Angie Martinez’s In Real Life podcast, the “Stronger” singer told the famed radio host: “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.” She later admitted her kids hoped she would reconcile with Blackstock.