Kelly Clarkson Hints at Possible Reason She Divorced Brandon Blackstock

Kelly Clarkson is sharing some insight into the reason behind her divorce from Brandon Blackstock, for which she filed in July. On Tuesday's episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, she shared that 2020 helped her learn a lesson about herself for which she is grateful. "Even at 38, I feel like I'm always changing and progressing in a good sense, in a good way. And I always want to make sure I'm being the best version of myself," The Voice coach said.

The singer continued with advice she got from her mother at the end of her marriage: "My mom has been telling me since I was a kid: 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 hypothesized that people can be "bad for you in a certain time," clarifying that it doesn't mean they're bad altogether. "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."

The American Idol winner married her husband in 2013 and filed for divorce in July after splitting amid COVID-19 quarantine. Last month, Clarkson told Entertainment Tonight she wanted to strike the right balance when it came to sharing about her divorce and also protecting her family. Blackstock and Clarkson share 6-year-old daughter River and 4-year-old son Remington, and the musician is stepmother to Blackstock's teenage kids, Savannah and Seth.

"I mean, if anything, I've fought my entire career just to be me," she said. "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."

Clarkson said nonetheless, there are "a lot of hearts involved" in the split, and that at a certain point, she is a "mama bear" more than someone who is in the public eye. Caring more about her kids than "anything else on this planet," the talk show host was willing to admit the process is "the worst," and the past few months have been "horribly sad," but also wanted to consider "what I say has a domino effect in other people's lives."