For Kelly Clarkson, the selection wasn’t about walking away — it was about making space for what mattered most. After months of speculation, the singer revealed on February 2 that she’s leaving her daytime talk show after its current seventh season. “This was not a simple decision,” she said in an emotional Instagram post. “Stepping away from the day by day schedule will allow me to prioritize my kids, which feels essential and right for this next chapter of our lives.” She added, “I would like to thank y’all a lot for allowing our show to be an element of your lives.”
The choice marks a turning point for Clarkson — each professionally and personally. Since debuting her popular chat show in 2019, the star has balanced a demanding profession with life as a mom to daughter River, 11, and son Remington, 9. Last summer brought a good deeper shift: Clarkson’s ex-husband and the youngsters’s father, Brandon Blackstock, died at age 48 after a three-year battle with cancer.
Now, the American Idol alum, 43, is looking ahead — putting her energy into family while focusing more on her first passion, music. (She’ll appear on season 29 of The Voice, which premieres February 23.) In accordance with a source, Clarkson can be slowly opening herself as much as romance. “Kelly’s been through a lot in her life, and he or she just pushes on,” shares the source. “A variety of that comes from her selfless nature. She has individuals who rely upon her, and he or she puts them first.”
Clarkson’s selection to finish her talk show had been brewing for a while. “Kelly didn’t realize how all-consuming the show can be,” says a second source. “It’s her entire life.” The source explains that Clarkson also didn’t foresee the show’s massive success or imagine it could last so long as it did. (The chatfest has won 24 Daytime Emmy awards during its seven-season run, with Clarkson interviewing everyone from Hillary Clinton and Jill Biden to Viola Davis and Meg Ryan.) “She was surprised,” adds the source. “The talk show became greater than she initially bargained for, and left her with little time to pursue anything.”
She’s happiest making music. “Kelly asked herself, ‘Do I would like to spend the remainder of my life doing this?’ She desires to deal with things that she really loves,” shares the source. Her bosses at NBC gave her plenty of freedom — she had her beloved Kellyoke segment on The Kelly Clarkson Show (her covers of hit songs often went viral), and he or she kicked off her Kelly Clarkson: Studio Sessions Las Vegas residency in July. Her plate can be full together with her Kelly Clarkson Home line of furniture and decor. Notes the primary source, “When [Kelly leaves the show], she will split her time between live performances and her merchandising deals and take a step back.”
Blackstock’s death was devastating for the entire family. Clarkson first spoke of his health issues in an Instagram post she shared the day before he died, when she postponed her Vegas residency. “While I normally keep my personal life private, this past yr, my children’s father has been sick and at this moment, I should be fully present for them,” she wrote. (She’d been mysteriously absent from the show in late February and early March.) “It was an enormous shock,” the primary source says, adding that everyone seems to be “doing in addition to might be expected.” (Clarkson and Blackstock, her former music manager, had an acrimonious split in 2020. They settled a lawsuit in 2024 over commissions and mismanagement after he was ordered to repay her $2.6 million.)
In a January behind-the-scenes Q&A, Clarkson offered fans a glimpse into life at home with River, Remy and their two dogs, revealing that they’ve all been sleeping together. “My kids, they’re 9 and 11 [and] sort of that special little fun stage where they’ll wipe their very own behinds, but they’re still sufficiently small to, like, love cuddling and love snuggles,” she explained. “There’s been loads for our family recently, and so I even have allowed my kids to sleep with me quite a bit. It’s my two dogs, my two kids and me. It’s loads. It’s been really special, though.”
On February 1, Blackstock’s former stepmother, Reba McEntire — who was previously married to his father, music manager Narvel Blackstock — told Entertainment Tonight that the remainder of the family was “hanging in there” ahead of her in-memoriam performance. (Blackstock was also dad to daughter Savannah, 23, and son Seth, 18, from his first marriage.) “We miss Brandon a lot,” McEntire said. “All of us have a giant text chain that we stay together and discuss him and remember him.”
Keeping it real. Kelly Clarkson surprised some when she filed for divorce from Brandon Blackstock on June 4, 2020, after nearly seven years of marriage. On the time, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that the previous couple “clashed on so many levels and being in quarantine together [amid the coronavirus pandemic] heightened their problems […]
Clarkson has a small inner circle she keeps close. It includes her mom, Jeanne, and sister Alyssa, a few childhood friends and a couple of people she’s met within the music industry. “She may be very tight together with her sister and spends as much time together with her as she will,” the primary source says. While the siblings are close today, they really grew up apart after their parents’ split: Clarkson was raised in Texas together with her mom, her sister together with her aunt and uncle in North Carolina and their brother, Jason, in California with their dad. They reconnected in 2001 and even lived on the identical plot of land that the singer purchased after her American Idol win.
Despite her celebrity status, Clarkson isn’t big on the Hollywood party scene or high-profile events. “Kelly’s an actual homebody,” says the primary source. “When she isn’t working, which is rare, she likes to be home, watching movies and hanging out. That’s how she unwinds.”
Clarkson hasn’t had a public relationship since her split from Blackstock. “Dating might be very difficult, which is why I don’t,” she told the gang during a residency performance last July. “Add a highlight, and it’s only a dumpster fire.” Now, the primary source says the singer is opening as much as finding love again. “Kelly would like to have a partner, and she is going to when the time is true,” shares the source. “She has a lot on her shoulders, and it does get overwhelming, and it’s nice to have someone to lean on. But I can’t imagine her bringing someone into their lives straight away.”
The entertainer is on the lookout for a person who understands her hectic lifestyle and makes her laugh. “She needs some lightness back in her life,” says the source, adding that she’s unlikely to get married again. “Kelly jokes she never desired to get married the primary time around,” says the source. “And he or she’s pretty open about how badly her divorce affected her.” While discussing her split from Blackstock on her talk show in 2020, Clarkson said divorce “is horrible,” adding, “there are such a lot of hard parts.” A couple of months prior, she said it’s “the worst thing ever for everybody involved.”
Kelly Clarkson and her late ex-husband Brandon Blackstock‘s private romance captivated fans for years until their split in 2020. The American Idol alum and the talent manager began dating in 2011 and things moved pretty quickly from then. The couple announced their engagement in December 2012 and tied the knot lower than one yr later. Clarkson […]
For now, Clarkson stays in NYC after relocating to the town from L.A. in 2023. “I’ve never really liked living in L.A.,” she said during an appearance on Today in 2023. “L.A. is gorgeous, a number of things to supply which are awesome. It’s just never been my thing in 20 years, and so I never desired to live there in the primary place.”
The second source tells Us that the singer could possibly be eyeing a move back to Tennessee, where she lived before her divorce. “NYC was fun initially, but then it became stressful. Kelly prefers the standard of life she had in Nashville,” explains the source. “It’s a slower [lifestyle] where she will deal with her creative projects at her own pace.”
The primary source notes that it’s unlikely Clarkson will probably be making any major moves just yet. The family is “very comfortable with their NYC life,” and Clarkson “wouldn’t need to introduce any more change to their lives in the intervening time. She is taking all of it daily.” (Her talk show is ready to conclude this fall.)
Saying goodbye to The Kelly Clarkson Show is bittersweet. “Everybody on the show loves her, and he or she loves everyone. It’s been super positive throughout,” says the second source of the atmosphere behind the scenes. But she’s ready for what’s next. “Kelly desires to work on other projects,” adds the source. “She looks higher than ever, and her brand is [doing well]. But she wants her music to be her legacy.”
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