Kelly Clarkson has been enduring “incredibly hard” private moments as she supports her children through the grief of losing their father, even as she continues to present a polished, professional front during her Las Vegas residency.
Clarkson, 44, married Brandon Blackstock, the son of her manager, in 2013. The former couple went on to welcome two children together: daughter River, now 12, and son Remington, 10.
Blackstock later became Clarkson’s manager, but their relationship broke down in 2020, setting off a drawn-out and contentious legal fight before their divorce was finalized in 2022.
He died last August at age 48 following a private battle with skin cancer, and Clarkson was among those who attended his funeral.
As the first anniversary of his death arrives, a source has offered insight into how Clarkson has been trying to guide River and Remington through what has been an “incredibly emotional year.”
‘Losing a parent at such a young age is something no child should ever have to go through. ‘Kelly has done everything she can to be there for River and Remy as they’ve navigated that loss,’ the source observed to Page Six.
The Daily Mail has contacted Clarkson’s representative for comment.
Kelly Clarkson has been privately facing “incredibly hard” moments while helping daughter River, 12, and son Remington, 10, cope with their father’s death; pictured in 2022
“Her focus has been making sure they feel loved, supported and as stable as possible while giving them the space to grieve in their own way,” the source said.
Clarkson has developed ‘a different perspective’ in the year since her children’s father died, and ‘still has moments that are incredibly hard, but she’s in a much better place than she was during the divorce years,’ said the insider.
‘She excited to be making music again, she’s having fun with the residency, and returning to The Voice feels like the right fit because it allows her to keep doing what she loves while also being the kind of mom she wants to be.’
Ending her own daytime series The Kelly Clarkson Show, as she did earlier this year, ‘wasn’t an easy decision because she genuinely loved it, but it gave her the time and flexibility she needed to put her family first.’
As news spread of Blackstock’s shocking death, it emerged in his obituary that he had struck up a romance with Clarkson’s ex-assistant Brittney Marie Jones.
Jones and Blackstock had settled into a quiet life in Butte, Montana, living in the mountains and running a rodeo in the nearby tourist destination Bozeman.
‘After more than 20 years in the music business, Brandon found his way back to the mountains and the cowboy way of life he always wanted to live,’ his obituary read.
Clarkson, 44, married her manager’s son Brandon Blackstock in 2013 and they separated in 2020, triggering a bitter divorce finalized in 2022; pictured 2017
Last August, he died at the age of 48 after a secret battle with skin cancer , and Clarkson was one of the attendees at his funeral; pictured 2018
Blackstock’s divorce from Clarkson saw them plunge into a rancorous legal wrangle over custody, finances and their $17.7 million Montana ranch.
Clarkson ultimately obtained primary custody of Remington and River, whom she moved with to New York City from their previous home in Los Angeles.
The Since U Been Gone singer was ordered to pay Blackstock a lump sum of $1.3 million, plus $115,000 in monthly alimony until January 31, 2024 and $45,000 in monthly child support until their children reached their majority.
Meanwhile, Clarkson sued Blackstock for allegedly making unauthorized deals on her behalf and he was ultimately ordered to reimburse her $2.6 million.
Her lawsuit’s focal point was that he had struck deals and taken commissions for his wife’s work on The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Voice, the Billboard Music Awards, the Norwegian Cruise Line and her Wayfair partnership.
The ruling found that Blackstock was within his rights as manager to negotiate for her on The Kelly Clarkson Show, but that the other contracts should have been brokered by her agents, under the terms of California’s Talent Agencies Act.
They also waged a lengthy back-and-forth war over the Montana ranch, which he was ordered to leave in 2022 but in which he eventually secured a five percent share.
In the year after their divorce was finalized, Clarkson released a searing breakup album called Chemistry detailing the ‘good, the bad and the ugly’ of her marriage.
She has been publicly projecting the image of a showbiz trouper at her Las Vegas residency, which she is pictured at in July 2025, weeks before Blackstock’s death
After Blackstock’s death, a source told the Daily Mail that Clarkson had wondered whether the strain of their divorce had a deleterious effect on his health.
‘Kelly is aware of talk that stress can impact the body and make someone more susceptible to cancer,’ an insider told the Daily Mail.
‘Although the timing could be purely coincidental, she knows how much tension the divorce and lawsuits put on them,’ the source explained.
Clarkson ‘doesn’t blame herself,’ the insider clarified: ‘but she’s conscious that the double whammy of the divorce and the fact that he had to repay her millions of dollars was very tough on him.’
