Kelly Clarkson Opens up About ‘Horrible’ Brandon Blackstock Divorce Amid Custody Battle

Kelly Clarkson is opening up about her “horrible” divorce process just days after she was awarded primary custody of her two children with ex Brandon Blackstock. On Tuesday’s episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the singer opened up to author Glennon Doyle and Alicia Keys about going through a divorce after initially filing in June following nearly seven years of marriage. They share two kids — River, 6, and Remington, 4 — while Blackstock is also dad to two children from a previous relationship.

“I’m going through one right now. It’s horrible,” Clarkson said of divorce to Doyle. “There are so many hard parts. The hardest for me is the kids. That’s the hardest for me.” She continued that especially as women, “we’re trained… to take it all on, and you can deal with it, and you’re fine, but it’s your babies that you worry about.”

While Clarkson and Blackstock were originally requesting joint legal and physical custody of their kids, court documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight Monday revealed that co-parenting has been hard amid their split. “The level of conflict between the parents has increased,” according to documents. “The parties have a difficult time co-parenting due to issues of trust between them.”

Clarkson will have primary physical custody of their kids, while Blackstock is given the first, third and fifth weekends of every month. On the first and fifth weekends, Blackstock must be with them in Los Angeles, where they live with Clarkson, only taking them to Montana where he is living a maximum of once a month. The order also specifically forbids either parent from speaking negatively about one other to the children when they have custody.

The Voice coach has been sharing vague updates on her family’s tough year on her talk show, saying last month that her mother had told her near the end, “You are who you surround yourself with. You want to make sure you’re surrounded by people that also want to be the best versions of themselves and also want a good common goal for everyone, not just themselves, right?”

Clarkson then explained she thinks people can be “bad for you in a certain time,” noting that while it doesn’t mean they’re bad altogether, it can mean that people need to move on. “Well it doesn’t necessarily mean that, it just means that you’re on different paths,” she added. “And I think that that’s OK. Everybody’s on a different learning curve.”