Kelly Clarkson Divorce: She and Brandon Blackstock Reportedly ‘Clashed on So Many Levels’

Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock may have seemed to have had an ideal marriage, but behind closed doors, “they clashed on so many levels.” That constant clashing eventually led Clarkson to file divorce papers in Los Angeles on June 4, citing irreconcilable differences and a separation date of “TBD.”

According to a source who spoke to Us Weekly, the strain in the couple’s marriage was not something that had sprung recently, but was something that had rather been an ongoing issue. Tying the knot at Blackberry Farms in Tennessee in October 2013, the source said that “everyone thought Kelly and Brandon had the perfect marriage, but they definitely didn’t.” Whereas Blackstock is “very laid-back,” Clarkson is reportedly “pretty high-strung,” causing them to “clash on so many levels.” Those issues were only made more apparent as the couple, along with their children, headed out of Los Angeles and to Montana amid coronavirus quarantine. According to the source, “being in quarantine together heightened their problems to the point of no return…so she filed for divorce.”

Quarantining together, which Clarkson herself recounted as being an “emotional roller coaster” and “exhausting” in a recently published interview, was not the only thing that deepened the divide in their marriage. In 2018, it was announced that Clarkson had scored her own talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show. She also acted as a judge during Season 18 of The Voice, a role she will resume for the upcoming Season 19. Those roles meant that Clarkson had to pick up her quiet and laid-back roots in Nashville, Tennessee, and head west to the hustle and bustle of sunny Los Angeles. According to Us Weekly‘s source, “when she went to Hollywood, it changed things,” partly due to Blackstock preferring “their quiet life in Nashville.”

Currently, the couple’s Nashville home remains on the market for $7.5 million. Their Los Angeles home, meanwhile, has been taken off the market after it was initially listed for $10 million in May. Amid the divorce proceedings, Clarkson has been “spending time in L.A. with her kids,” 5-year-old daughter River Rose and 4-year-old son Remington Alexander. On Friday, she was even spotted taking the family dog on a walk around the neighborhood, the American Idol alum noticeably foregoing her wedding ring. It is unclear if Blackstock is still on the family’s “Vintage Valley” ranch in Montana, where they had been quarantining.

Clarkson and Blackstock married in 2013 after they began dating in 2011. The couple announced their engagement in December 2012 and tied the knot in October 2013. River was born in June 2014 and Remington arrived in April 2016. Blackstock is also dad to daughter Savannah and son Seth with ex-wife Melissa Ashworth. Clarkson, in her divorce filing, asked for joint legal and physical custody of their two children.