I’m not here for any kind of rewrite or reimagining of Brandon Blackstock. I remember ALL of the stories and all of the legal wrangling. Blackstock passed away from cancer last week. He was married to Kelly Clarkson for years, and she filed for divorce from him in 2020. It took years to untangle all of his financial impropriety and mismanagement, and Blackstock really tried to squeeze as much money as possible out of Kelly in the divorce. For the past week, we’ve heard endless stories about how he was diagnosed with cancer after the divorce was finalized, and that Kelly was the one looking after him. Well, guess what? Blackstock likely started banging Kelly’s assistant in the last years of their marriage, and the assistant became his jumpoff and then his girlfriend/partner in his final years.
Brandon Blackstock was in a relationship with his ex-wife Kelly Clarkson’s former production assistant when he died on Aug. 7. Brittney Marie Jones — who was identified in Blackstock’s obituary as his “partner in life and business” — worked as Clarkson’s production assistant in Nashville from 2016 to 2018, according to her LinkedIn.
In December 2018, she transitioned to an executive management assistant role for Blackstock — but still “assistant managed day to day artist schedule for Kelly Clarkson,” according to her profile. Two years later, in June 2020, the same month Clarkson filed for divorce, Jones became an executive assistant for V Bar B Cattle Co., a Montana ranch owned by Blackstock.
A rep for Clarkson did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The talent manager’s obituary describes Jones as his “beautiful and loving partner in life and business.” It also said that the pair “started building a life, building companies, and working tirelessly to create Headwaters Livestock Auction and what will live on as his legacy, The Valley View Rodeo in Bozeman, Montana.”
On Friday, Aug. 8, Jones’ father Larry paid tribute to Blackstock in a Facebook post, writing, “Yesterday we lost a good man Brandon Blackstock. He described Blackstock as “my daughter’s soulmate,” and said he “considered him my son.”
While no one is saying exactly when Blackstock’s relationship with Brittney Marie Jones began, I assume everyone can read between the lines. My only question is whether Kelly knew that her assistant was banging her husband before 2020? Because it sounds like that’s exactly what Jones was doing. Kelly was dealing with so much at that point, trying to figure out just how badly Blackstock had mismanaged her career and her money. Did she know about Jones as well? Well, in any case, I hope Jones was the one taking care of him in the end and not Kelly.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- STX Films World Premiere Of "UglyDolls",Image: 429317187, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no
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- Kelly Clarkson, Brandon Blackstock attends the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 12, 2020 in Santa Monica, California,Image: 562944148, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: jpistudios.com/JPI Studios/Avalon
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- Brandon Blackstock (L) and Kelly Clarkson attend the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 12, 2020 in Santa Monica, California. © Joe Sutter, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Photoshot): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 562963472, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jeffery Mayer / Avalon
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- Brandon Blackstock (L) and Kelly Clarkson attend the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 12, 2020 in Santa Monica, California. © Joe Sutter, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Photoshot): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 562963506, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Joe Sutter / Avalon
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- Brandon Blackstock, Kelly Clarkson Brandon Blackstock and Kelly Clarkson at the 25th Annual Critics Choice Awards held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, USA on January 12, 2020. Copyright: xZoonar.com/Lumeimagesx 15725608,Image: 823844884, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Lumeimages / Avalon
I’m assuming that the beautiful jump-off wrote that obituary?
She sounds like a grifter, too.
Including the descriptor “beautiful” in an obituary to describe anyone but the deceased or their children is absolutely batshit lol
100% her writing it. It’s one of my favorite things about obituaries, finding the tell of who wrote it if it’s anything beyond bare bones.
Pajiba had a link yesterday to tmz? Or page six? And the beautiful partner got married in 2019 or 2020, celebrated her one year anniversary on insta, and then never posted about her husband again. Their divorce finalized in ‘22, like Kelly.
I think I may have discovered a new hobby – sussing out who the obituary author is sounds right up my alley.
That obituary is so damn tasteless.
That sounds about right though. Lead a tasteless life, end up with with a tasteless obituary.
Reminds me of when my grandfather died. He was in the middle of a divorce (long story), but my Mom and Aunt graciously listed the sort of ex-wife in the obituary. She then published her own. Some people have no shame.
Um but didn’t Kelly meet him when he was married to his first wife and went on to say the moment she saw she knew they were meant to be even though he was married. Sounds like Brandon was the problem.
If Kelly still owed him anything from their divorce settlement, would she still have to pay his estate? Or does his death end any financial obligation on her part? And if he was repaying money to her, would she get it from his estate?
Depends on how the settlement was written and if the executor of the estate wants to fight it. He had the girlfriend and two other children as well as his father. I’m sure he had his ducks in a row so that they would get his money after he died. I’m hoping because he was sick for a while that he and Kelly worked the legal part out before he passed. The last thing the family needs is another drawn out court case.
His dad has good money, he’s Reba McIntires ex husband who also managed her and stole her money. Brandon learned everything from him.
I see the press is gonna give Brandon the Kobe Bryant treatment. There are real victims of their crimes and misdeeds, but because they died young and/or tragically, it all gets washed away. It’s gross.
What’s Kobe got to do with this? Leave him R.I.P
While I don’t think Brandon and Kobe are fair comparisons, the deification of Kobe simply because he was a great basketball player still amazes me. He had a sexual assault case, wasn’t known to be particularly philanthropic and arguably was a pretty selfish player.
He died tragically, but it doesn’t mean he was a good person. That is the comparison. The press did the same thing for Kobe when he died – completely ignored the ugly stuff. I still remember why he bought Vanessa that giant pink diamond ring.
But Kobe died what, 7 years ago? Everybody else has already moved on.
As per my daughter when we were discussing this last night: “Parasites. BOTH of them were making $$ managing Kelly’s talent” And both screwed her over. Can you imagine trying to come back from that.
All we heard about during the divorce was how he was a grifting POS and even still Kelly never exposed this relationship. This retcon of him now I could accept in one story (RIP and all that) but the sheer volume of saturation about this dude being the second coming of virtue makes zero sense.
I haven’t seen that at all…every story I’ve read has included something about the divorce from Kelly Clarkson, how bitter it was and the accusations against him.
You wouldn’t expect his obituary or social posts from his family to be anything but kind and by all accounts he was a good father, even if a crappy husband. And yeah, the girlfriend wrote that obituary but I don’t get the knocks for leaving out KC since it didn’t mention his first ex wife either.
I recall Kelly saying that she did not handle the divorce well at all. Now that this affair has come to light, I think I understand her statement more clearly now. The added twist of her assistant betraying her with her husband was a particularly cruel 1-2 punch by people closest to her. At least now everyone knows what the assistant did and I hope she never lives it down.
I suspect Kelly found out that he was cheating on her with her assistant and this led to the divorce.
I feel bad for Kelly because I know that she was this man’s mistress at one time. He left his first wife for her. And that doesn’t excuse he took vows with her and cheated on her next. Ugh. The man was stealing from her, cheating on her, I am sure it’s a lot. I hope that she’s able to untangle anything from this man’s estate so she doesn’t have to deal with it anymore.
So not true. Brandon did not leave his wife for Kelly. Kelly mentioned she saw him once in passing and felt attraction, but he was married. They never got together until much later. His ex-wife remarried, and his ex-wife really liked Kelly a lot and thought she was great to her kids. She said that Kelly and Brandon made a great couple, and she even went to Kelly’s baby shower for her first child, and after River Rose’s birth said she considered Brandon and Kelly’s firstborn part of the family. She said in an interview that she and her husband would even do things with Kelly and Brandon. Whatever the reason was for Brandon and his ex divorcing, Kelly wasn’t the reason.
I read about this last night and just gasped. It seems really clear to me that he was cheating on Kelly with her assistant. You know the old saying, don’t say anything bad about the dead, but I believe in the truth, and that is what the person wrote with how they lived their lives. Kelly must have been devastated, and dealing with so much. Is it ok to say that I simply don’t see what any woman saw in him. I’m with whoever said they hoped it was the mistress who was taking care of him. I am sorry, though, for anyone who passes and their family. And he passed at a young age. Can’t take it with you.
Kelly gave a couple of really insightful interviews regarding the marriage. She didn’t come out and slag him, but you got the gist of it. Her songs on her last album are pretty telling also. Like a lot of successful women, she felt she needed to dim herself, make herself smaller to make him feel good about himself, make him feel more important. I think also the way he began treating her and hurtful things he said to her made her realize she wouldn’t want this for her daughter. They weren’t growing together and partners going in the same direction. They were getting nowhere with their issues. It felt like she was saying as partners he wasn’t trying to see her vantage point and she was exhausted from being the one to try to fix it and he wasn’t reciprocating.
She alluded to him cheating in one of the songs, but their problems were far deeper than that. The affair probably began because they were ending and wasn’t the actual cause of why they ended. She has grown so much as a woman and gives really insightful interviews regarding her life, the breakdown, and coming through it. She realized for her to be happy she needed to leave him. She couldn’t stay just for the children and she had no more to give.
She (and her father) sound like they’re angling for some of his estate. It’s good grifters found each other, I guess? I just feel for the kids (and Kelly).
Is this the same Montana ranch that Kelly owned/he was squatting in? Or is this a new ranch.
New ranch. He bought a ranch for, I think, $1.8 million after he was finally made to vacate Kelly’s ranch, which he was made to pay rent on for a while. He tried to get Kelly’s 17.5 million dollar ranch, but the judge upheld the prenup. He did get a small percentage of its worth, which was a little over 5 percent, worth $900,000.
It’s so common. Some people cannot be alone. They sense their relationship is ending and start looking around and lining something up before they leave. For every man who does this, there ‘s a woman doing it with him.
Women need to support other women. Why on earth did Reba McIntyre not tell her that Brandon’s father mismanaged her money and to tread with care letting his son manage hers? Maybe she did and Kelly chose not to listen, but it sounds as if Kelly was blindsided by the amount of financial betrayal she discovered later.
I mean, the stuff with Reba was pretty public. I don’t remember the timeline at all though, as far as when Reba and Brandon’s dad imploded. The fact that he did the exact same thing to her is just incredible.
I remember her finding out about something he had done during the coronavirus stay-at-home order in 2020. Weren’t they staying in a cabin somewhere when she found out?