"The fact that I love my work and can have regular hours — for a mom, that’s so amazing. I’m very fortunate," she said.
The thing about being a full-time mother is that there are a lot of sacrifices being made. There is also guilt involved, because often, a mother will have to choose between her needs over her children.
Recently, Kelly Clarkson spoke about how having two young children affects her demanding workdays and how she battles mom guilt in a cover story interview with Variety.
The 40-year-old talk show host, who has two children with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock, River Rose, 8, and Remington Alexander, 6, spoke about how she decided to push the time of her NBC chat show to allow her to drop her children off at school. “This season, we pushed everything back 30 minutes. I made that call so that I can take my kids to school,” she said. “And then my nanny picks them up. At least I have the mornings with them, and then I have nights with them.”
She shared that "scheduling can get tricky" at times, but it helps that she has a great team.
“Everyone at NBC is amazing, and everybody wants everyone to be successful. It's really helpful to have that type of unity in your environment at work,” Clarkson continued. “There are a lot of parents at the talk show and at The Voice and at my label. And there are a lot of women.” She expressed gratitude for the work she has, "The fact that I love my work and can have regular hours — for a mom, that’s so amazing. I’m very fortunate," she said.
When asked if Clarkson had mom guilt while filming The Voice, she said she spoke to her mom about it. "My mom, I did call her once — this was years ago — and I was like, 'Do I see my kids enough?' And she was like, 'Oh, my God, Kelly, you see your kids way more than I saw you!' A lot of people don’t have the means, so I’m very fortunate," she said.
In June 2020, the Behind These Hazel Eyes singer divorced Blackstock after seven years of marriage.Their divorce was legally formalized in March 2021, per PEOPLE.
Clarkson then spoke about how her relationship with her children was a very important takeaway for her in therapy, especially in the aftermath of her divorce.
“Don’t hide everything from your kids,” she says, stressing on how it was okay for parents to share things with their children. “Obviously, don’t talk about stuff that you shouldn’t talk about, but it’s OK if they see you cry, or it’s OK if they see you’ve had a bad day. You start to feel that kind of shame, like, 'I’ve got to put my best foot forward as a mom because I don’t want them to be affected.' But then you allow your kids to express empathy, and they learn how to say, 'Oh, man, I’m sorry you had a hard day.',” she says.
She also acknowledged all other working parents and said, "There are so many moms in the industry — my jobs happen to be on-camera. There are so many moms and dads killing it at work every day and doing different jobs. I think that’s important to show your kids, like, “This is who I am as a person.” Things don’t stop when you have children; the circle just gets bigger."
References:
https://people.com/parents/kelly-clarkson-pushed-back-show-time-split-school-pick-up-with-nanny/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photos By (L) Christian Thompson (R) Kevin Winter
