Kelly Clarkson Sued by Her Estranged Husband’s Father’s Company Amid Divorce

Kelly Clarkson is being sued by her management company, which is owned by estranged husband Brandon Blackstock’s father, Narvel Blackstock. According to court documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight, Starstruck Management Group claims it is owed more than $1.4 million in unpaid commissions, alleging breach of an oral contract in pursuit of declaratory relief and an accounting.

Starstruck Management Group has represented Clarkson for 13 years and was paid a 15% commission on her gross earnings, according to the suit, but the group is alleging the singer owes an additional $1.4 million on top of the $1.9 million she has already paid and will “likely” owe $5.4 million in estimated commissions by the end of 2020.

“Over the course of approximately 13 years, Starstruck developed Clarkson into a mega superstar,” the complaint reads. “By way of example only, Starstruck was instrumental in helping Clarkson achieve success in terms of numerous hit albums, multiple GRAMMY wins and nominations, her role on popular television shows like The Voice and her own talk show. Despite Starstruck’s hard work and dedication, Clarkson has decided she is going to stop paying Starstruck for what is contractually owed.”

The lawsuit reportedly reveals that Clarkson does not have a written management agreement with Starstruck, just a verbally negotiated deal from 2007 and Clarkson’s verbal confirmation of the terms with Narvel. This verbal contract was violated by Clarkson, the suit claims, and Starstruck alleges it deserves future earnings from Clarkson for her role as a coach on The Voice, her talk show and Wayfair advertising deal.

Clarkson filed for divorce from Brandon — with whom she shares daughter River Rose, 6, and son Remington Alexander, 4 — in June 2020. Earlier this month on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the singer addressed the split, saying she wasn’t planning on sharing many details of her personal life moving forward. “As you probably know, 2020 has brought a lot of change also to my personal life,” she said. “Definitely didn’t see anything coming that came, but what I’m dealing with is hard — it involves more than just my heart, it involves a lot of little hearts.”

“We know the best thing here is to protect our children and their little hearts,” she continued at the time. “So I’m usually very open and I usually talk about everything but in this case, I will talk a little bit here and there about how it affects me personally, but probably won’t go too far into it because I’m a mama bear and my kids come first.”