Kelly Clarkson and her husband of seven years, Brandon Blackstock, are battling it out in court after the singer filed for divorce in June 2020.
Divorces are never easy. No matter how amicable the process is, misunderstandings are bound to arise. Kelly Clarkson and her husband of seven years Brandon Blackstock are battling it out in court after the singer filed for divorce in June 2020. It is causing heartache on both sides, but there seems to be no way around it.
The Since U Been Gone singer won a legal victory recently as she was granted primary physical custody of her two children with Blackstock, who was also her manager. People reported that the music manager is also asking $436,000 in monthly spousal and child support. The American Idol winner's divorce battle is far from over as Blackstock, 43, has "been equally unreasonable in his requests for child and spousal support, as well as attorney fees. Kelly’s offered to pay for all the kids’ expenses, but Brandon seems to think he is entitled to and needs $301,000 in spousal support and $135,000 in child support per month," a source said.
In total, he is asking for 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 added.
The couple married in 2013 and are parents to River Rose Blackstock and Remington Alexander Blackstock. The talk show host was also stepmom to his children from his first marriage, Savannah and Seth Blackstock. The music manager was married to Reba McEntire previously.
The new developments in the Clarkson divorce threw a wrench in what she had imagined would be a smoother process. USA Today quoted legal documents saying, "The Court finds that under the circumstances present in this case, the interest in providing stability and continuity for the minor children weighs in favor of Petitioner having primary custody." It also reads that "the level of conflict between the parents has increased" and that "the parties have a difficult time co-parenting due to issues of trust between them."
The father-of-four will be able to FaceTime with his kids every day, the legal document says, adding the details about weekends, holidays, and school breaks. Neither parent is allowed to "speak in a derogatory manner" about the other one in front of their kids and both are listed as emergency contacts for the children on all school forms.
The Because of You singer is reportedly pleased about the custody ruling since her "first priority" has been taking care of their kids and "all the hearts that are involved in this divorce," People quoted a source as saying. "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," the source adds. "In this case, she had to fight for them since Brandon and his attorneys were making unreasonable requests," the source added.
The 43-year-old dad wanted his kids to travel between Los Angeles and Montana or reside in Montana even though L.A. has "undeniably been their home base," the source said. The court found that the kids haven't lived in Montana and instead, the father has to travel to see his kids at Clarkson's Woodvale residence for "visitation and parenting time."
Nobody is ever ready for separation and the Stronger singer said she didn't see it coming. "Definitely didn't see anything coming that came, but what I'm dealing with is hard — it involves more than just my heart, it involves a lot of little hearts," she said on The Kelly Clarkson Show in September. "We know the best thing here is to protect our children and their little hearts," she added then. "So I'm usually very open and I usually talk about everything but in this case I will talk a little bit here and there about how it affects me personally, but probably won't go too far into it because I'm a mama bear and my kids come first."
References:
https://people.com/music/kelly-clarkson-divorce-brandon-blackstock-seeking-436k-support-month/
