Ahead of the release of her new album "Chemistry" on June 23, Kelly Clarkson is opening up about her 2020 split from husband Brandon Blackstock. Clarkson filed for divorce from Blackstock that summer, and their divorce was ultimately finalized in 2022. In a new interview, Clarkson admits that she doesn't think she handled the split all that well.
"I don't know how people get through anything like that because I'm not going to say I did it gracefully. Behind closed doors by myself, it was not," Clarkson said on the June 21 episode of "The Zane Lowe Show." "Just to be brutally honest, I did not handle it well. I had many sessions with just my friends [where] I couldn't even speak. I was crying so hard, even before separating."
She continued, "There were just a lot of now unhealthy habits you recognize or habits that you recognize that you didn't see before. Hindsight is a lot easier."
Clarkson also told the Today Show on June 22 that she did "have a little text exchange" with Blackstock about the new album. "I don't even remember why or how it happened, but I was like, 'Hey, I didn't just diminish us down to one (thing),'" she explained. "You know what I'm saying? It's all in there, the ride. The beauty is in there, as well. Now, there's a lot of pain, but that's what happens, for all of us."
Clarkson and Blackstock share custody of their two kids, River, 9, and Remy, 7. Earlier this June, she opened up about how she thinks the divorce made her a "far better mother." "Because I think when you're honest with yourself, you're able to be honest with others," Clarkson told the "We Can Do Things" podcast, per Good Morning America. "But sometimes you don't know that you're necessarily lying to yourself." She also said that her kids have a "separate relationship" with their dad which has nothing to do with her. Her kids, she added, are "just really adamant about keeping that dream alive" that she and Blackstock might reunite, but Clarkson said they never spend any time together so it's unlikely.
Clarkson and Blackstock were married nearly seven years before they separated in June 2020. The couple wed in 2013. Clarkson previously opened up about their separation in a December 2020 episode of "The Kelly Clarkson Show." "I'm obviously going through one right now. It's horrible. There are so many hard parts. The hardest for me is the kids. That's the hardest for me," Kelly candidly revealed on her show. Ahead, here's a timeline of their split.