‘Well, a wife doesn’t forget a time she gets told she’s not a sex symbol’
Kelly Clarkson says that her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock told her she wasn’t sexy enough to be a judge on The Voice, according to court documents.
Amid a flurry of legal drama after their 2021 divorce after seven years of marriage like child support spats worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, Kelly has revealed that her 2018 debut on the NBC talent show might have been in spite of her husband’s best efforts, instead of because of them.
Newly published documents allege Kelly’s then-husband of doing the thing that every woman NEVER wants to hear from her husband; that she was not enough of a “sex symbol” like Rihanna to do the job. Seriously, if you don’t want to be considered a terrible boyfriend/partner/husband, showbiz dreams or not, do not say this. Ever!
Kelly, who has spoken out before about the expectation of women in the public eye to have a perfect body and putting on weight after having their two kids nine-year-old River Rose and seven-year-old Remington, made the claim during a legal dispute. Luckily for her, the judge ruled Brandon, the step-son of country icon and iconic ‘A Single Mom, who works two jobs’ sound originator Reba McIntyre, needed to shell out $2.6 million after it was ruled he had overstretched the mark professionally, not personally as unfortunately the judicial system cannot make men financially suffer for daring to say you don’t look like Rihanna. Perhaps, it should. Perhaps it’s a whole can of worms we ought not open.
The court documents – which were seen by the New York Post’s Page Six – outlined how he had exceeded his limited job description, overstepping into the My Life Would Suck Without You singer’s agents’ territory, by leading negotiations to join the likes of Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton on those spinny chairs, which she eventually did.
According to the filing in a California court, after her attorney Ed McPherson asked why her memory was so crystal clear about the incident, Kelly told him: “Well, a wife doesn’t forget a time she gets told she’s not a sex symbol, so that stays.”
The 41-year-old singer added that her 47-year-old ex told her that the network “had to have someone that was Black. … They had to have a diverse thing” and that she and Blake Shelton “were too similar”.
Brandon had informed NBC that she was in the process of joining American Idol, the ABC singing competition she shot to fame on in 2002, as a judge after taking on the advice of two high powered CAA agents, according to the documents.
via NBC
Kelly – who first appeared on the show in 2012 in an advisory role alongside Blake and after leaving in 2021 reprised her position in 2023 before the new line up of her ex step mother-in-law, ex One Direction star Niall Horan, Gwen Stefani and John Legend was announced – has since made a huge splash on American day time television with her own smash hit eponymous talk show.
Anyone with eyes and ears can see she was destined to become a mainstay on the box. Her winning mixture of warmth and amazing vocals helped her capture the hearts of the American Idol public. After making cinematic history with 2003’s From Justin To Kelly’, she took a break from the screen to focus on being a 00s pop princess, producing one of the greatest albums of the 00s and soundtracking that scene in the ‘The Princess Diaries 2’ with a wee Abigail Breslin, she plotted an incredibly successful return to telly in September 2019, becoming a hit amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, it’s got the point of her power (or talent) that music industry icons must be quaking in their boots for the day that Kelly completely adds her magic to their biggest hits via her ‘Kellyoke’ like Madonna’s classic ‘Vogue’ and Olivia Rodrigo’s ballad Vampire. Watch your back! Kelly and ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ are coming for your songs!
Along with mastering everyone else’s back catalogue and snagging six Daytime Emmy nods, Kelly is adding to hers with her new album Chemistry, dubbing it “therapy” and enthusing about how she hates to “hold grudges”.
She told PEOPLE magazine: “I didn’t see it other than: This is my outlet. I’m a let-go person; I don’t hold grudges. So it was really delving into what happened in my life and why—and what am I going to do about it?
“I cannot express how appreciative I feel for having that kind of healthy outlet. Because the level of depression and things that come with divorce or grieving is extraordinarily hard. You feel alone, and it’s just a blessing to be able to have that outlet for those emotions that are overwhelming.”
