When Kelly Clarkson filed for divorce from Brandon Blackstock in June, I first thought it was yet another pandemic-split. Then there was a small flurry of rumor-mongering that perhaps the split wasn’t solely pandemic-related, especially given that there are some indications that Brandon is a big cheater. But Kelly has a super-wholesome image and a talk show, so of course all of the off-side rumors came to a halt pretty quickly. For months, Kelly has been keeping it civil publicly. But it feels like some stuff is starting to come out about how this divorce isn’t all sunshine and amicable relations. An LA court just gave Kelly the primary physical custody of her two children with Blackstock, River Rose, 6, and Remington Alexander, 4. The court said she’s the one providing stability and the court noted that Kelly and Brandon are having a lot of co-parenting problems at the moment. Which led to this dishy piece in People:
Kelly Clarkson’s ex-husband Brandon Blackstock is looking for a hefty amount of spousal and child support. The music manager, 43, is seeking $436,000 in monthly spousal and child support after an L.A. County judge granted Clarkson primary physical custody of their children River Rose, 6, and Remington Alexander, 4, a source tells PEOPLE.
“Brandon’s been equally unreasonable in his requests for child and spousal support, as well as attorney fees,” the source says. “Kelly’s offered to pay for all the kids’ expenses, but Brandon seems to think he is entitled to and needs $301K in spousal support and $135K in child support per month.” If Blackstock’s request remains, he’d receive more than $5.2 million per year.
“Additionally, he’s already asked for $2M for attorney fees when he’s the one driving up the cost of the divorce with seven attorneys just representing him alone,” the source adds.
A source close to the family also tells PEOPLE that Clarkson is “pleased” by the custody ruling and that her priority is to protect her children. “As Kelly has said, her first priority in all of this is to take care of the kids and all the hearts that are involved in this divorce,” the second source says. “It’s been a hard time for everyone, but Kelly’s pleased with the court’s ruling regarding custody. Divorce is hard and it gets tense for most couples going through it. But Kelly’s primary focus is on doing the best she can to protect the kids. In this case, she had to fight for them since Brandon and his attorneys were making unreasonable requests.”
The source explains that Blackstock wanted the children to go “back and forth” from Los Angeles to Montana or reside in Montana even though L.A. has “undeniably been their home base.” In late October, the court found that the children “have not resided in Montana” and instead Blackstock must travel to L.A. to see the children at Clarkson’s Woodvale residence for “visitation and parenting time.” PEOPLE accessed the court documents on Monday.
Here’s the thing: Kelly was doing Brandon a huge favor by keeping their divorce bullsh-t out of the press for MONTHS. Even if Brandon thinks he has a good case, Kelly is pretty firmly in “America’s sweetheart” territory and People Magazine is clearly on her side, and actively helping her get out her side. I feel like Kelly wouldn’t have authorized this sympathetic piece unless she was really aggravated with Brandon at the moment. As well she should be – he’s trying to get her money, even though she now has primary custody (and he’ll have to travel to see the kids). Nope! Air all of his dirty laundry, Kelly! Also: dude has seven lawyers?!?!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
I hope she’s ok, he sounds like a narcissistic abuser, just in expecting children to travel to him rather than the reverse, that says so much…
Exactly. Between that and the 7 lawyers he is clearly punishing her for going her own way. Reminds me of Sophia Vergara’s ex, actually
I guess the question, ‘Did he marry her for money’ has been answered.
Absolutely!
His family is loaded. He’s Reba’s step son.
Reba’s ex-stepson. Reba kicked the dad to the curb. I think the dad is suing Kelly too. The family is loaded because they live off of working singers (they are talent managers).
I am also seriously side-eying what this article does not mention. That “neither” of them can imbibe alcohol or weed within 8 hours of driving the kids. I don’t think that that is there for Kelly. And the fact that that piece of news was” released” might be a small shot meant to say, “settle, asshole, we have the goods”, lol.
Asking for over 100k in child support when you don’t have primary custody? Oof. I also thought he had a career in Hollywood no? Why would he need 300k a month in spousal support? Why 7 lawyers for a divorce case?
Yes!
And a lot of $$ in divorce/custody issues is to set a balance, but if he is also wealthy and makes a ton of money as a manager, why does he need so much?
He literally married the talent. His career is tied to hers. It is a very Celine Dion type of relationship minus the old perv geezer.
So how do prenups work when there are children involved?
Also, this dude is very much his father’s son.
@TIFFANY, who is his dad? Isn’t his mother Reba?
Reba is/was his stepmother. Narval is also a ‘music manager’ and found some legitimacy when he married Reba. Brandon just managed to raise his profile in half the time.
Narval and Reba’s divorce was drama filled as well.
The elder Blackstock’s ex-wife is tv producer Elisa Gayle Ritter, and she looks almost identical to Reba. It’s weeeeeird.
OMG. I knew Reba was Kelly’s husband’s stepmom, now ex stepmom, but I had no idea she looked identical to his mother. That is bananas.
The more lawyers you acquire, the guiltier you are. I’m Team Kelly ALL. THE. WAY!
Man, her next album is gonna be FIRE!
He always looked sleazy. Perhaps he was always after her money. Possibly this day couldnt come first enough for him. I hope the judge has some sense to say no to his ridiculous demands. I wonder what the prenup said. It seems successful women are often doomed in marriage. Look at Adele. Sadly, successful men seem intimidated by equally successful women so where water would rise to meet its level, it doesnt and women end up with leeches like this guy. Very unfortunate. At this rate, its best to have NDAs and affairs.
Truth. I could see it in his face way back when. I knew it would end badly. He has freeloader vibe all over him plus he’s too small for her. I don’t mean physically, I mean in all ways other than that. That’s always the problem: women who are brilliant superstars end up with these guys who are just too small for them and then the men get jealous and petty and try to dim their light and put them in a box to appease their tiny egos. Better to procreate, if that’s what they want, but leave the marriage part out of it so that when the man decides he can’t deal with their light anymore and want to act a fool, at least the money part of it doesn’t become such a huge factor.
A divorce situation where one parent gets the better part custody is pretty rare in America.
It actually isn’t that rare. In Texas the default possession schedule is the Expanded Standard Possession Schedule, which isn’t exactly 50/50 possession–it’s closer to a 54/46 split of time favoring the primary parent. I’m not familiar with the default in Tennessee (presumably where this divorce proceeding is taking place) but I do not believe that TN’s default is 50/50.
@ Grant. I live in Texas and when my daughter’s ex tried to get full custody of my granddaughter, it got really messy, really quick with lots of accusations being thrown at my daughter some of which was true by her own admission but most was utter lies.
Anyway. Despite his best effort, my daughter retained primary custody with her dad being given the usual visitation.
I live in Cali and had a 3 week long custody trial that brought in witnesses from all over. Total nightmare, anyhow, even the bailiff could see my ex was after money and once said to my lawyer and I in secret he’d never wanted shoot someone as much in his life as my ex. Hence, the judge ruled after the trial 100% physical custody for me with joint legal custody, making him financially responsible for her but no control. He should never sued me, I would have been more laid back, generous in visits and didn’t ask for cash, and the lawyers fees could have afford her a Harvard education. Custody battles bring out the worst in people. PTSD quality experiences.
Adrian Pasdar is looking at Brandon Blackstock and thinking, “Wow, you’ve got some big ol’ b*lls, son!”
Haha. I totally forgot about him and the stuff that he did during his divorce with Natalie.
Whew just googled what he did and lyrics in their new akbum, which i hear is amazing, referencing his cheating. I love natalie and the chicks so glad she got out
Someone’s ego is bruised – 7 lawyers hahaha. Idiot thinks that the more lawyers he has the more chance he has of her giving into his ‘demands’. Also wasn’t/isn’t he her business manager or something? She was famous and wealthy before she even met him.
Smart women, foolish choices. The weasel, which most of us saw right away charmed her from the beginning thinking he was going to get his down the line. No he ain’t. Kelly definitely IS America’s sweetheart, good luck sucka. I have adored her ever since American Idol. She is the bomb and indomitable. And who in the hell asks for Four Hundred Freaking Plus Thousand Dollars per month in child and spousal support??
We know Kelly will come out of this okay but there’s going to be a lot of gnashing of teeth. I just hope that those adorable older Blackstock kids can somehow remain in touch with Kelly because she is a loving influence and a dose of NON personality disorder.
Hollywood couples definitely have the advantage in the more famous partner’s court PR-wise, but…I side-eye the fact that he’s living in another state away from his children when we’ve mainly heard of them living in LA up until this point. If I was divorced with kids, I would not only be living in the same state, but I’d also live in the same area for their sake. That’s just…basic parenting to me. The only thing I can assume is that he has kids from his first marriage living there, but then, uh, I kind of raise my eyebrow at people who keep popping out kids but can’t keep a family together.
His other kids don’t live in Montana either
I believe so. She has had a successful track record with albums and tours, she has songwriting credits (which is where the money is) and her side gigs on top of The Voice.
Unless she out here spending like a drunken sailor, his attorneys did not get that number out of nowhere. It is clearing negotiable.
Did they have a prenup? The article didn’t say. Anyway, child support payments are ridiculous when she has physical custody. I’m currently paying a ridiculous amount of child support even though we have a 50/50 split in physical custody, and I pay 70% of child expenses. I was told the reason behind this was to ensure the kids have similar living situations I both parents homes and since he makes 1/2 of what I do, my payments to him equalize our incomes. And it changes year to year. So if he makes even less money next year, my support payment goes up based on his small income. It’s incredibly unfair. How can I plan a life, not knowing, year to year, a court mandated payment could increase, even double, if he decides to be underemployed? I’m especially bitter today, as child support is due on the 1st. The payments are crushing me, I’m pretty sure he’s hiding income (self employed), my budget is so tight I stress over any unexpected bill. Meanwhile he buys the kids nice clothes, Nintendo, fancy vacations, and bought himself a new car. All of which I basically paid for, and meanwhile I could not possibly afford a vacation and my 13 year old car is barely holding together.
Sorry for the rant. I’m incredibly bitter, and I see what he’s doing to Kelly. He probably is limited in spousal support because of a prenup so he’s trying for child support because he sees a big payday there.
@jordana, that sounds like an awful situation. I’m so sorry.
Thanks @noodle. It sucks. I want to tell everyone: get a prenup. And then if required, get a postnup. So important!
Absolutely. I made sure we had a prenup when I married my current husband. It protects both of us.
@Jordana, sorry this is happening to you. It’s like you’re having to support 3 kids and your ex is laughing all the way to the bank. And sorry to be nosy, but would a prenup have prevented the situation you’re in? How does one go about “same standard of living for the children” in a prenup?
Jordana, what an unfair burden you’re stuck with! Your advice about prenups is excellent, and I hope others will heed it. I’m sorry for the situation you’re dealing with.
@pandabird and @lahdid
It’s an absolute burden. I paid child support last night, and I’ve got about $200 left for the next 2 weeks, and that cant possibly cover my utilities that are due now, and food and gas.
While a prenup wouldn’t have protected me from child support abuse, it would have protected my savings going into the marriage. I put the downpayment on the house with all my savings, mostly savings I had before I even met the ex. After the financial split, I lost all of it to him to pay him out from my house. I’ve got absolutely zero cushion left. I had exactly $9.08 left in savings after paying out his “equity”. So, without a cushion of any kind of savings, I’m very vulnerable right now to any financial unexpected stuff. If I had a prenup, at least I would have what I brought into the marriage.
The parasite needs to get a job, instead of trying to bludge off his ex. I detest men like him.
He’s a talent manager for several people, including Blake Shelton, so he probably makes a pretty decent income on his own. I would imagine she is severing professional ties with him as he was managing her and I think producing her show also.
She’s also being sued by her father-in-law’s managaement company.
Poor Kelly. And they guy has two other kids in Tennessee. That’s where they lived until she added the talk show (through his pushing as her manager) onto her plate. With The Voice filming and her talk show, they had to buy a house to live in California permanently and put their Tenessee house for sale.
She talked about being upset about leaving his two other children and not being to see them as much. Then they separate. Does he go back to Tennessee to be a good father to the confused two older children, who adore Kelly, or even stay in California to help co-parent and keep life as stable as possible during this transition as far as the two little ones? Noooooooo. He wants to be in Montana and make life difficult for everyone, because that’s what suits his needs.
I wonder how her relationship with Reba is at this point?
She introduced them into the cesspool of father and son.
Like father, like son. I hope Kelly wins in both cases.
He has two other children in Tennessee?!? Jesus what an ass. I know she’ll have to pay him something, but I hope it’s way less than what he’s asking for, maybe she can prove abuse or cheating, or something because it’s obvious he’s a snake. It was obvious when they married but he definitely manipulated and tricked her, narcissist are very charming at first.
I agree with every word of this, Jess.
What an a-hole. Didn’t we all see that when they got married? Love kelly but this is not surprising. $400k in spousal and child support and the kids don’t live with him? Does he not have any income at all? Ick
…and does he not have any pride?!
Knowing Kelly’s lawyer is Laura Wasser, of course this is all going to be played out in the press. Laura definitely went running to People.
No way if anything he has leaked. Kelly has kept a tight lid on everything she has been through with him. Only public court filings have come out and people has had very little details from her side. She actually cares about the kids too much to put the truth of his bs out there.
If you really think this is positive to him and negative to Kelly, you need to reread People’s article. Laura has close ties to PR people all over, see any of the divorces she has been involved in.
I tend to agree with you on this, Tig. And I’m bloody GLAD Kelly has Wasser on her side.
She has a prenup he should get 0 spousal
I like Kelly a lot, she seems like a good soul, and has always seemed very devoted and inclusive of her stepkids too. I hope things work out well for her here. He sounds…unreasonable.
He isn’t even trying to hide that this is all about money. He is asking for more in spousal support (300k) than child support (135k). Why is he choosing to live in Montana – none of his children live there and the management company is based in Nashville ( their clients are country artists). He isn’t even strategic. You would think that he would want to ask for less in the divorce in order to fight harder in the management case.
Maybe he’s living in Montana because it’s kind of between CA and TN? I mean, if he picks one or the other, he’s leaving the other set of kids out in the cold. Although asking for more in spousal support than child support when she has primary custody is completely ridiculous. And SO much money at that.
So he leaves them all? Actually, if he lived in one state that his children are in, which would be Tennesse, where he was living before, and where the country music industry is, then he would see his older children often, be a more present part of their lives again, and then could fly to see the two in Califonia on his allotted weekends and get that one weekend a month he’s also allowed to fly them to him. Then the siblings could see each other once a month.
By moving to Montana, if he takes his visitation with his kids with Kelly, when is he seeing his kids in Tennessee? He is a truly selfish man.
All I have to say is he’s got crazy eyes…
So much for “he never asks for money” in her Piece by Piece song. What a douchebag.
yep, that was my first thought. clearly when push comes to shove, he has no qualms asking for $6M a YEAR.
I love that song but even as I heard it I wondered if this day would come. But lord even I never imagined him asking for 300k in spousal support. The grift is strong with this one. I hope Mackenzie Bezos stays out of his path this guy is the A+ of gold diggers.
$436k/mo!!!!!
He’s insane. I also remember wondering if this would ever happen….sad. That was a very emotional song for her (I remember her performing it when pregnant with her youngest). I had a shitty father too and thought my soon to be ex husband was different…. it’s tough to realize we might attract what we most want to avoid when unhealed. Thankfully, I’m more healed now… and I bet she is, too.
Abby I hope for healing and peace for you and Kelly. It sucks when people turn out to be not who you thought they were.
He’s a user money grabber. You could buy Montana for that kind of money. So so happy that the judge denied him. That must have crushed his narcissistic ass. Love it!
I know he and his father used her as a golden goose. At one point she was doing Voice, her talk show and then they signed her up for a residency show in Vegas. She talked about how ambivalent she was about all the projects.
They milked her until she split with the son.
I find this all very questionable. This father and son are an interesting pair. First Narville builds his company on Reba. His son then reps then marries Kelly. Then Narville dumps Reba (as both wife and client two years after his son married Kelly). Reba was pretty clear, even though she said little at the time (probably due to them having a son together), that the end of everything was a big surprise and not her choice. My personal feeling is that this is when her career was slowing (even though she still does well). It also seems clear that Brandon contributed little to the marriage with Kelly on several levels, and that Kelly had to use help outside Starstruck Management with her career. The minute she files for divorce both father and son file suit for money and support. Honestly, I think marrying the talent is a strategy to make more money for their company as it assures a commitment and more dollars. Sick. I will be interested to see if Blake stays with Starstruck or goes. He is their only high-level talent besides Kelly (who is still shown on their website – interestingly, they also rep Shelby Blackstock, who is Reba and Narville’s son). I hope Kelly doesn’t have a hard time disentangling from their clutches. They wouldn’t have Blake or Kelly without Reba, but she was discarded. Now they are losing Kelly……hmmm.