How Kelly Clarkson Spent The One-Year Anniversary Of Her Ex-Husband Brandon Blackstock's Death

It's been one year since Kelly Clarkson's ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock, passed away at the young age of 48 after a long battle with melanoma. At the time of his death, their divorce had been finalized for just over three years, with Clarkson having primary custody of their two children. You wouldn't know any of this, though, if you were in the audience for Clarkson's concert on August 7, 2026, the first anniversary of Blackstock's death. The "Stronger" singer took to the stage at her Las Vegas residency, a series known as Studio Sessions. The pop star didn't make a public statement, nor did she make a commemorative social media post.

Before their divorce announcement in 2020, the couple had been married for about seven years. That means their entire divorce process lasted almost as long as their marriage, and with Blackstock's death, Clarkson's life post-divorce hasn't been much easier. Looking back at the difficult year that Clarkson and her family endured, a source revealed to Page Six, "She still has moments that are incredibly hard, but she's in a much better place than she was during the divorce years."

While no specific reason for Clarkson's messy divorce has been confirmed, her divorce filings cited irreconcilable differences among the tragic issues plaguing their marriage. When she was awarded primary custody of the children, court documents revealed that the two were having "a difficult time co-parenting due to issues of trust between them" (via People). That was likely related to their legal issues, with Clarkson suing Blackstock over mismanagement, which may partly explain her silence on this sad anniversary.

Following the divorce, Brandon Blackstock was ordered to pay Kelly Clarkson about $2.6 million dollars for unlawfully procuring deals as her manager when it should have been a task done by her talent agents at CAA. The New York Post released information regarding the case, casting some unfortunate shade on the singer's ex-husband. Allegedly, Blackstock advised Clarkson against joining "The Voice" because the network was "looking for a more sex symbol type," citing Rihanna as an example instead. Clarkson eventually did join the series from 2018 to 2021, with sporadic comebacks afterwards. When she was asked in court if she recalled the conversation with Blackstock, she replied, "Well, a wife doesn't forget a time she gets told she's not a sex symbol, so that stays."

Nowadays, it seems that Clarkson is doing her best to move on and focus on herself and her children. Earlier this year, it was announced that she would be stepping away from her daytime talk show, "The Kelly Clarkson Show." Instead, she's moving on to Season 30 of "The Voice," marking her return to the franchise after finishing up a special Season 29 titled "The Voice: Battle of Champions." She will also continue her Las Vegas residency through August 15. It truly seems that, through these difficult times, Clarkson has perhaps taken some advice from her own lyrics, battling through pain and being all the stronger for it.