Kelly Clarkson is a singer, songwriter, author, actress, and currently, a day time television host of The Kelly Clarkson Show. In 2002, she rose to fame as the first winner of the long-running television show American Idol. The show provided her with a record contract with RCA. Her first song, A Moment Like This went to number one on the country charts, and was the number one country song for the year 2002.
In 2012, Clarkson began dating Brandon Blackstock. They married in 2013. Blackstock is the son of Clarkson’s former manager Narvel Blackstock, and the former step-son of Reba McEntire. The couple has two children, a daughter (born in 2014) and a son (born in 2016).
In 2020, Clarkson filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court for dissolution of marriage from Blackstock.
Clarkson requested primary physical custody of the children. The court granted her request because Blackstock had moved to Montana. Blackstock responded to Clarkson’s divorce petition, and requested temporary spousal support in the amount of $436,000 per month.
In July of 2021, Blackstock was awarded temporary spousal support in the amount of $150,000 per month plus $45,601 per month for child support for their two children. Clarkson will also pay Blackstock’s attorneys a one-time payment of $1.5 million.
Clarkson is also asking the court to bifurcate their divorce. In other words, under California law, at the request of a party, a court will grant a request to declare the parties divorced while maintaining control of the other issues (such as spousal support, child support, property issues, etcetera). Bifurcation makes the parties single and able to remarry.
Also in California, temporary support can be granted to a one party during the divorcing process to maintain the standard of living of a party if that party cannot maintain the standard, and the other party has the ability to pay. A court will also order one party to pay for the attorney’s fees of the other party to ensure that both parties have access to attorneys, and the other party has the ability to pay it.
Still to come: According to the international celebrity website TMZ, Clarkson maintains that a pre-nuptial agreement is in place and should be enforced. Also, according to TMZ, “…Clarkson just filed legal docs with the California Labor Commission, claiming her ex, Brandon Blackstock, who also served as her personal manager, defrauded her by charging exorbitant fees, and she wants all of the loot back.” Previously, Blackstock’s company, Starstruck Management, filed suit against Clarkson alleging she owed the company $1.4 million.
Watch this space…