From a glittering diamond ring to a sunny fall wedding, Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock
once seemed to have a true fairytale romance.
Lately though, things have turned a little sour for the once picture-perfect couple.
Here's what we know about their increasingly nasty split.
Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock announced their engagement in December 2012 and Clarkson
shouted her excitement from the social media rooftops, tweeting,
"I'M ENGAGED!!!!!
I wanted y'all to know!!
Happiest night of my life last night!
I am so lucky and am with the greatest man ever."
The original American Idol winner then proudly showed off her huge engagement ring on news
site WhoSay.
The post, which has since been deleted, featured a yellow canary diamond with white diamonds
surrounding it, which Blackstock designed himself.
"Honestly, he—I we didn't actually have a conversation about it ever, until he just
proposed.
And, and I was like, 'Awesome, let's do it!'"
Fast-forward 10 months to October 2013 and the two officially tied the knot, with an
excited Clarkson sharing the big news on Twitter.
Clarkson wrote,
"I'm officially Mrs. Blackstock[.]
We got married yesterday at Blackberry Farms in TN, the most beautiful place ever!"
By June 2014, the couple became parents to a daughter named River Rose.
They were blessed once more in April 2016 when they welcomed son Remington Alexander.
So, what went wrong?
Keep watching to find out.
Clarkson's divorce came as a surprise to fans, as she and Blackstock seemed pretty happy
in the months leading up to their breakup.
The first sign of trouble in paradise actually came when Clarkson filed for divorce in June
2020 — almost seven years after she and Blackstock tied the knot.
The couple even managed to keep the split a secret for a whole week before the story
went public.
This news arrived in an Us Weekly article a few months after Clarkson gave her talk
show audience a tour of the Montana ranch she and Blackstock shared with their children
during the pandemic.
On a March 2020 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the host showed viewers shots of her
now estranged husband riding around on a horse, plus photos and videos of family time as they
played in the snow.
Clarkson worked from the cabin during the pandemic, chatting with celebrity guests virtually.
She even had her kids pop in to say hi to stars like Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick.
"This is Remi!
They— we were just watching Trolls, so this is Branch, and this is Poppy."
Kelly Clarkson stayed pretty quiet about her personal life for a while in the wake of her
divorce filing.
But she somewhat addressed her split publicly for the first time via an epic clapback at
a troll.
The star couldn't hold her tongue on social media in August 2020 when a Twitter user referenced
her breakup and suggested that her marriage didn't work out because she was too busy with
her career.
The snarky comment came after it was revealed that Clarkson would be sitting in for Simon
Cowell as a guest judge on an episode of America's Got Talent following his scary back injury.
She wrote,
"Wow.
Shaming a woman who has a great work ethic, is a great mom, and who steps up and fills
in when a [friend] asks for a favor because that's actually what 'good old country girls'
do….
This can't be who you are deep down.
I have more faith in your heart.
Aim higher please."
Kelly Clarkson finally spoke about her divorce directly when she returned to work on The
Kelly Clarkson Show in September 2020.
"Let's just get this out of the way: 2020 has been a dumpster fire."
Well aware that her divorce was big news, she continued,
"Because as you probably know, 20...2020 has brought a lot of change also to my personal
life.
Definitely didn't see anything coming that came."
She went on to note that she wanted to maintain some level of privacy for the sake of her
kids, adding,
"What I'm dealing with is hard because it involves more than just my heart, it involves
a lot of little hearts.
[...] We know the best thing here is to protect our children and their little hearts.
I'm usually very open, and I usually talk about everything, but in this case I will
talk a little bit here and there about how it affects me personally, but probably won't
go too far into it because, you know, I'm a mama bear, and my kids come first."
Clarkson also got candid about her split on Today that same month, revealing her plans
to open up more about what happened through new music.
"I don't think anyone, you know, expects it.
You see yourself, you know, growing old with someone, and … and then life, you know,
has a different path."
In September 2020, Brandon Blackstock's dad, Narvel Blackstock — the former husband of
country superstar Reba McEntire — filed a lawsuit against Clarkson.
He accused the star of owing more than $1.4 million in unpaid commissions, in addition
to the $1.9 million she had already paid, to his management company, Starstruck Management
Group.
However, Clarkson countersued and alleged that the management company had violated the
California Labor Code for, quote, "procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to procure
employment or engagements" without a license, which she felt meant the money owed shouldn't
be paid.
In October 2020, things got even messier in the courtroom when Clarkson accused Brandon,
Narvel, and Starstruck Management Group of having,
"defrauded her by charging her outlandish fees during her time with the team."
Legal papers filed by Clarkson claimed her estranged husband and father-in-law's company
acted fraudulently and provided illegal services.
On top of that, Clarkson alleged that the company defrauded her out of millions of dollars.
Brandon denied the allegations in legal documents and claimed that the company didn't owe Clarkson
a penny.
Amid the nasty ongoing legal battle with Brandon Blackstock and his dad, Clarkson got a little
more candid about her divorce and how she'd been coping over the months that followed
her filing.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight during her most in-depth divorce discussion so far, she
doubled down on the fact she doesn't want to say too much for the sake of her children,
but confirmed she'd been finding things difficult, telling a reporter,
"I care one hundred percent more about my children than I do anything else on this planet.
So, that's been the hard thing of, like, yes, I'm willing to share my experience and yes,
it is the worst.
I mean, the past few months have been horribly sad.
But at the same time, I have to think, 'Hmmm, like, what I say has a domino effect in other
people's lives.'"
"This is my favorite girl in the world.
Hey, come here little boy.
Hi!"
The star also appeared determined to keep things civil — at least in the public sphere
— when it came to speaking about her estranged husband, saying,
"Nothing's wrong with anybody, it's just ... it happens, and that's why there's nothing to
hide about it in that sense."
Though Clarkson didn't take the chance to speak negatively about Brandon Blackstock
in public, behind the scenes, it seemed like it was a different story.
As the messy courtroom battle over Starstruck Entertainment Group raged on, separate court
documents pertaining to Clarkson and Blackstock's divorce revealed the truth about how they
really felt about one another.
Documents obtained by E! News in November 2020 stated that the couple's conflicts had
increased, noting that they struggled with co-parenting because of trust issues.
That same month, Clarkson obtained primary physical custody of River and Remington, keeping
them in Los Angeles while Blackstock remained in Montana.
The court developments also included a few rules for the parents, including the stipulation
that neither would speak badly about the other to their kids.
Also in November 2020, Blackstock filed legal documents that shed light on the former couple's
financial situation in the wake of their split.
TMZ claimed the music manager wanted a whopping $436,000 a month — $301,000 in spousal support
and $135,000 in child support.
But he wasn't done asking for cash.
Blackstock also reportedly asked for another $2 million from Clarkson to pay his attorneys
amid the ongoing divorce battle.
Though things went a little quiet in Clarkson and Blackstock's divorce proceedings for a
few months, more details became public knowledge again in July 2021.
Clearly very much ready to move on from her marriage more than a year after filing for
divorce, Clarkson and her lawyer asked for a separate trial to make her legally single
while her divorce proceedings were still ongoing.
In the documents, which were obtained by Us Weekly, Clarkson made it very clear there
was no chance of a reconciliation and that counseling wouldn't work.
The star added that she and her estranged husband want to start over and asked the judge
that her request to become single be granted.
She doubled down on her point that she was ready to put her marriage behind her a month
later, filing to legally get her last name back to Clarkson.
Clarkson appeared to make it clear that she had completely moved on from Brandon Blackstock
a few days after her request to become legally single was revealed in July 2021.
Clarkson headed to Walt Disney World in Florida with the two kids she shares with Blackstock,
though he was nowhere to be found.
Clarkson posted an adorable photo of them on vacation to her Instagram account on July
14, 2021, writing,
"We had so much fun at Disney World!
All the rides were amazing but oh my gosh, y'all, Pandora and the Star Wars rides are
where it's at!
Thank you for a magical vacation, Disney."
That same month, it was revealed that Blackstock hadn't got the full amount he wanted out of
Clarkson when it came to spousal and child support.
But he was hardly left out in the cold.
The Blast obtained legal documents showing that Clarkson was ordered to pay Blackstock
$150,000 a month in spousal support, plus $45,000 a month in child support for their
children, River and Remington.
The settlement was kept out of the spotlight for around three months before it was made
public, with the pay-outs reported to have started on April 1, 2021.
While that certainly sounds like a staggering amount of money to the average person, it's
not going to set Clarkson back too much.
The court documents also revealed her monthly earnings, confirming she makes an eye-watering
$1.5 million every month from her many gigs.
These endeavors include her hugely successful music career, being the host of The Kelly
Clarkson Show, and appearing as a repeat judge on The Voice.
"Oh my gosh, you just one-upped me on my own song."
"Nah, nah, nah, nah."
It seemed like Blackstock also wanted to make a big change amid his divorce from Clarkson.
Documents obtained by Us Weekly in August 2021 revealed that Blackstock would be stepping
back from the entertainment industry and his gig as Blake Shelton's manager.
It was confirmed that Blackstock had been staying at the Montana ranch he and Clarkson
once shared ever since their split and that the father of four planned to become a full-time
rancher.
Quite the pivot from the glitzy life he used to live rubbing shoulders with some of the
biggest stars.
The documents also indicated that Clarkson had wanted to sell the ranch because it was
reportedly costing a whopping $81,000 a month.
However, Clarkson's request to sell the property was denied because Blackstock needed it for
his new line of work.
That same month, a judge ruled that Clarkson would not be responsible for paying the huge
ranch fees.
Regardless, it was revealed she would temporarily continue to pay Blackstock the almost $200,000
in spousal and child support.
A big win for Clarkson came later in August 2021.
Brandon Blackstock attempted to contest the prenuptial agreement they both signed when
they tied the knot.
He also reportedly wanted the properties and the money she earned while they were married
to be split between them.
That could have resulted in the singer losing out on some serious cash, as Clarkson made
millions of dollars since becoming Mrs. Blackstock.
According to TMZ, the star was clearly thrilled to learn about the ruling in her favor — so
thrilled she screamed when she heard about it while filming The Voice alongside her fellow
coaches Ariana Grande, John Legend, and Blackstock's former-client Blake Shelton.
Clarkson reportedly had a small celebration on the set of the NBC singing competition.
Another big win for the superstar?
The ruling also meant that she was legally allowed to sell the Montana ranch that had
become such a source of drama.
Let's hope this is the last step in a long and increasingly messy road for these two
so they can focus more on being great co-parents to their kids.
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