The Relatable Reason Kelly Clarkson Stayed In 'Limiting' Brandon Blackstock Marriage So Long

Kelly Clarkson is ready to talk about her choice to divorce Brandon Blackstock — and more to the point why the heck she stayed with him for so long!

As you know, the OG American Idol winner and her producer ex-husband called it quits in 2020 after seven years of marriage. Kelly filed for divorce, leading to a nasty legal battle, probably one of the messiest splits we’ve seen in a while. But if things were so bad — why didn’t they split sooner??

Well, Kelly has answers! On Tuesday’s episode of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast, she told host Glennon Doyle her new song Mine talks about how she didn’t know why she “stayed” as long as she did — but in reality, she has a clearer reason:

“When you’re in it … I’m like ‘I can do this. I can handle so much. I can control my actions. I can control my reactions. I can do this and I can reach this person and I can get through.’ And it becomes a little bit of your ego that gets in the way.”

So sad… She really held on to the hope that they could work things out until the very end. Or more specifically that she could work things out.

Regarding their children, River Rose and Remington Alexander, Kelly also said she doesn’t want to make the same mistakes with Brandon as her parents did when they got divorced:

“If I’m being completely honest, we don’t want to do what we saw done.”

But the 41-year-old songstress said ultimately she had to make a “selfish” decision — because she couldn’t “handle” being trapped in the marriage she describes as “limiting” any longer:

“You start never thinking about yourself and that’s honestly sometimes, to be selfish for me was very important because I’m never, I’m rarely selfish. It’s been beaten into me since childhood to have a servant’s heart. It’s very hard to take that and go, ‘I need this.’”

In the end, though, the Stronger singer maintains leaving the 46-year-old executive was the best decision she could’ve made: