Kelly Clarkson is speaking candidly about her ongoing divorce from husband Brandon Blackstock in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, explaining she wants to strike a balance of being herself during this difficult time while also protecting her kids. Having filed for divorce in June after nearly seven years of marriage, The Voice coach first addressed the split publicly during the Season 2 premiere of The Kelly Clarkson Show last month, although she told ET she didn’t feel pressured to do so.
“I mean, if anything, I’ve fought my entire career just to be me,” she explained. “Because most managers and publicists get nervous with me because I am an open book and labels and people frowned upon it early on. But, I don’t do it for anyone else, honestly. I don’t know, I come from a small town, I’m used to everybody knowing everything anyway. And, I don’t know, I feel like if you’re hiding something, there must be something wrong with it. And there’s nothing wrong with anything — life just kind of happens, and it takes turns that you don’t expect and are sad.”
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Clarkson added she wants to also take into consideration how speaking publicly affects her children, as she and Blackstock share 6-year-old daughter River and 4-year-old son Remington, and she is a stepmom to Blackstock’s teenage kids, Savannah and Seth.
“There’s a lot of hearts involved here,” she continued of the situation. “And you know, that’s the thing that’s been kind of hard to navigate is I am an open book, but at some point I’m a mama bear more than I am a person in the public eye.” Caring more about her children than “anything else on this planet,” the American Idol alum said she’s willing to admit the process is “the worst” and the past few months have been “horribly sad,” but also has to consider “what I say has a domino effect in other people’s lives.”
Having been through two divorces in her family, Clarkson said the difference this time around is social media, as well as having kids involved ranging from 4 to 19. “And, you know, I’ve had conversations with one of our eldest about how difficult it is in the public eye when your parents are so … you know, one of them is so prominent and having to navigate that for them is hard on their hearts. I’m just careful also while being real,” she said, adding of the reason behind her divorce, “Nothing’s wrong with anybody, it’s just … it happens, and that’s why there’s nothing to hide about it in that sense. You know, it’s just, divorce is a really s—y thing.”
