When news broke in June 2020 that Kelly Clarkson was getting a divorce from her husband Brandon
Blackstock after almost seven years of marriage, fans were likely shocked — and curious about
what went wrong.
While the legal documents cite "irreconcilable differences," according to Us Weekly, and
the singer hinted at the reason behind the split, she may never actually reveal the true
cause out of concern for her two children that she shares with Blackstock, daughter
River Rose and son Remington.
"It's horrible. There are so many hard parts. The hardest for me is the kids, that's the
hardest for me."
However, it now looks like Blackstock — who also has two older children, Samantha and
Seth, from his first marriage — may have been up to some shady behavior before his
marriage to Clarkson came to a less-than-amicable end. USA Today noted that when Clarkson was
granted primary custody of the former couple's minor children in November 2020, the ruling
stated:
"The level of conflict between the parents has increased [and] the parties have a difficult
time co-parenting due to issues of trust between them."
"Not just for me, but also for my current husband, I'm like, 'This isn't happiness,"
you know, for both of us, I feel both of us deserve better."
While spouses need to trust each other in countless aspects, there also happens to be
the fact that Blackstock has been accused of some pretty questionable behavior in the
past — and it's exactly the kind of behavior that can end a marriage.
Before he tied the knot with the American Idol alum, Blackstock was married to Melissa
Ashworth from 2001 until 2012. In 2013, a man named Jerry Reed, who was supposedly a
friend of the family, claimed that Blackstock had been, quote, "running around on" Ashworth
while they were together, according to The Daily Mail.
But Ashworth shut down the rumors of Blackstock's apparently adulterous ways, telling Radar,
"This is ridiculous [...] this silliness."
Still, rumors circulated that the talent manager was a 'chronic flirt' with women at his management
company, according to OK! Magazine.
Unfortunately, the cheating rumors didn't stop after Blackstock got together with Clarkson.
An eyebrow-raising story popped up in Celeb Dirty Laundry that included a confession from
a woman who had supposedly "hooked up with Blackstock while he was engaged to Clarkson."
The woman alleged,
"[At an afterparty], Brandon approached a group of my friends and I and bought us drinks.
[We] all went back to his hotel room and had more drinks [...] And yes, we had sex that
night."
Admitting that she had asked Blackstock about Clarkson, the woman claimed,
"His reply was, 'She ain't gotta know. This kind of thing happens in this business all
the time.'"
While adding that she was "ashamed" of what happened, the woman also claimed she was pregnant.
Clarkson apparently wasn't about to stay quiet about the situation and took to Twitter to
address the allegations, writing,
"Keep hearing random rumors of me & Brandon splitting or that he's cheating on me. Stop
with all the lying please."
While it seems like she trusted Blackstock at the time, that might not have actually
been the case. When the pair's split hit the news in June 2020, a source told The National
Enquirer,
"Kelly's suspected Brandon of cheating on her for a long, long time. Whenever she confronted
him about it, he denied it. But Kelly was never completely convinced. Her feeling was
that, where there's smoke, there's fire."
Thankfully for Clarkson, she has her fans to help her put out the flames. When the star
first addressed the rumors that Blackstock had been unfaithful back in 2013, her loyal
admirers were quick to help her try to brush off the buzz. One Twitter user wrote,
"Just don't give it any attention — haters gonna hate."
Another supporter tweeted,
"Some people will say anything for a little attention. Don't worry about those pesky punks.
We know the real deal!"
However, when the divorce news broke and the rumors of cheating started to pop up again,
fans were ready to back Clarkson up in a different way. One person tweeted,
"Really Brandon?!!! Seven years, two kids ... a song she wrote for you ... and you cheat
on her?!"
And another fan added,
"If the rumors of Brandon cheating on Kelly Clarkson are true, I really want her to unleash
hell via music."
And that could turn out to be exactly what happens.
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