Though Kelly Clarkson and her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock have been separated for three years—and divorced for one—their two children are still holding out hope that they’ll get back together.
The singer and talk show host opened up about navigating post-divorce parenting during a conversation with author Glennon Doyle on Doyle’s podcast We Can Do Hard Things, per People. “Your kids will still have a hard time. It doesn’t matter if you stay, it doesn’t matter if you go, I am still having conversations [with my kids] three years later,” Clarkson said. “My kids just came back from my ex and any time there’s mention of maybe him being with somebody else…they are just really adamant about keeping that dream alive that we might still be together one day.”
Clarkson said that the potential harm to her children was a huge factor in her decision to leave, and before that, her decision to try and make the marriage work. “It’s interesting because you think about your kids, right, and you’re like, ‘Oh man, I wonder how is this going to affect them?’ I remember how it affected me, and [my husband] has also been through a divorce with his family, so I was like, nobody wants that…You try and you try and you try but then, you figure out, well I don’t want them growing up with this unhealthy [relationship].”
Blackstock and Clarkson were married for seven years and have a daughter and son together. Through her music, Clarkson has shared some of the issues that led to the end of her marriage, recently altering the lyrics to Gayle’s “ABCDEFU” to reference the money she paid Blackstock in her divorce settlement and her ongoing lawsuit against his father’s management company. On an original track, she sang about being “used” in a relationship. Presumably her kids are too young to understand the full scope of their parents’ issues—nor do kids really need to be filled in about such things—but let’s just say I for one am not holding out hope for a reunion.
