How Kelly Clarkson's Kids Feel About Her Romantic Life After Splitting From Brandon Blackstock

In the summer of 2020, original "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson filed for divorce from husband Brandon Blackstock after seven years of marriage. Clarkson and Blackstock's messy divorce — which involved contentious legal battles on multiple fronts — was finally settled two years later. One of the biggest issues surrounded the former couple's two kids, with Clarkson and Blackstock ultimately granted joint custody over them. After the fact, Clarkson began to settle into a different life post-divorce, confessing on a 2024 episode of her eponymous talk show that she was enjoying being single, and had no plans to get back into the dating game anytime soon. But part of that may have to do with the fact that her children are not on board with Clarkson adding to her already star-studded dating history.

"My kids, both of them, are not — they constantly bring it up. [...] 'Please, like, we don't — we don't want you with anybody else,'" she admitted during an appearance on KOST 103.5. "They're young. So, it's hard, like, to picture their mom with someone else other than their dad." However, the "Miss Independent" hitmaker added that she warned them that her starting a new relationship at some point in the future is a distinct possibility. Still, while Clarkson understandably missed the physical intimacy of being with someone special, the singer reiterated that she wasn't actively looking for a new partner. "I'm like a magnet for people who are, like, really all-in, like, right off the bat. [...] I am very non-committal," Clarkson reasoned. As a result, her children can probably relax for the time being.

Kelly Clarkson has made no secret of the fact that her 2023 studio album "Chemistry" was at least partly inspired by her divorce. However, during a 2023 appearance on "Today with Hoda & Jenna," which was broadcast shortly before the album dropped, Clarkson revealed that certain songs that were penned during that tumultuous time in her life were unlikely to ever see the light of day. As the singer pointed out, "There is a point, you have kids, that you go, 'Hmm, what's appropriate?' Like, you know, there's that line for me," adding, "And my line was pretty much, like, 'What's already out there? What have people already talked about? What is out there?' And there's plenty that I will never talk about. [...] I kept those songs for me [...] in a vault that you can find when I'm dead."

That being said, the "Since U Been Gone" hitmaker also stressed during that very same interview that she does not consider "Chemistry" to simply be a breakup record. Rather, Clarkson argued that it's more broadly about relationships and their various stages, "Because it starts off very beautiful and sexy and exciting and inspiring." The super popular talk show host specifically pointed to the track "Favorite Kind of High" — the seventh on the album — as an example of what exactly she meant by this. The song's evocative lyrics paint a picture of someone so enamored by their paramour that they simply can't control themselves around that person, with Clarkson no doubt drawing inspiration from the intense feelings that typically emerge when beginning a new relationship.