Kelly Clarkson Opens Up About Her Divorce And Letting Her Light Shine
In a heartfelt conversation with Glennon Doyle on We Can Do Hard Things, Kelly Clarkson discussed her divorce from her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock and shared the reasons that kept her in the relationship for a long time.
Kelly, 41, candidly revealed, “My ego… [I thought,] ‘I can do this. I can handle so much.’ My ego is, ‘I can control my actions, I can control my reactions, I can do this and I can reach this person and I can get through.’ It becomes a little bit of your ego that gets in the way.”
The singer continued to explain that her own experience as a child of divorce played a significant role in her decision-making process. “If I’m being completely honest, we don’t want to do what we saw done. I don’t want my kids to be those kids at school,” she shared.
Kelly, who shares two children, 7-year-old Remington “Remy” Alexander and 80year-old River Rose, with Brandon, expressed her concerns about how divorce might affect her children, particularly in a progressive city like the one they currently reside in.
Growing up in the South, where divorced parents were a rarity, the Stronger hitmaker reflected on the challenges she faced. “It’s a little different — they grew up here and it’s a very progressive city. But in the south, there was like two of us with divorced parents in our class. So it was very different. Even when you come down to like, daddy-daughter dances and you don’t have anyone show up,” she recalled. “You have to think about all of those things and you play it out differently in your head too.”
The mom of two emphasized her determination to prioritize her children’s well-being above all else, stating, “You try so hard and you think, ‘I do not want to do that to her, I don’t want to do that to him’ — that you never start thinking about yourself. That’s why sometimes to be selfish was important to me.”
Acknowledging her own role in the relationship’s limitations, the Catch My Breath singer admitted, “I felt limited. And I don’t feel like that’s the truth for all marriages, I just think that was my case. To say that’s just his fault, that’s my fault for allowing that to happen. That’s my work as well. It could also be limiting because as in love as I was, I just wasn’t ready. Maybe the other person wasn’t either, and you try to make it work, but it doesn’t.”
Kelly is set to share her feelings on her divorce in her upcoming album, Chemistry, which features 14 tracks. The album, set to release on June 23, showcases her journey of self-reflection and growth. With already released songs like I Hate Love, Favorite Kind of High, Mine, and Me, Chemistry promises to resonate with her fans on a deeply emotional level.
