Just months after winning a $2.6 million ruling against ex-husband Brandon Blackstock, Kelly Clarkson has filed another lawsuit against him and his father’s management company, Starstruck Entertainment.
Clarkson, 41, filed the case on Monday, March 11, in a Los Angeles court and argued that Starstruck violated state labor rules by acting as unlicensed talent agents who booked business deals.
Billboard reports that Clarkson is seeking “any and all commissions, fees, profits, advances, producing fees or other monies” she paid to Starstruck, which is owned by Brandon’s dad, Narvel Blackstock.
“Based on the wrongful acts and conduct of Starstruck, all agreements between the parties, should be declared void and unenforceable, no monies should be paid by cross-complainants to Starstruck, and all monies previously paid by cross-complainants to Starstruck should be disgorged from Starstruck, forthwith,” reads Clarkson’s new filing, obtained by Rolling Stone.
Clarkson and Blackstock, 47, have been in several legal disputes since their split in 2020. Shortly after the couple filed for divorce, Starstruck sued her for millions, insisting it had “invested a great deal of time, money, energy and dedication” into the singer and had “developed Clarkson into a mega superstar.”
Clarkson then accused Starstruck of violating California’s Talent Agencies Act by serving as unlicensed talent agents. Last November, a judge ruled that the agency had procured deals for Clarkson, including her job as a judge on The Voice, when Clarkson’s team at Creative Artists Agency should have been the ones to do so. Brandon then had to repay the $2.6 million in commissions for that deal and others.
Brandon’s lawyer Bryan Freedman responded to this new filing, telling Rolling Stone, “It is morally, ethically and legally wrong to attempt to get monies back from your ex-husband who not only helped her as her manager but who used those earnings on their children and Kelly and Brandon’s lifestyle during the marriage.”
The last case only covered as far back as 2017, but the new filing one reaches all the way to 2007.
Brandon is currently appealing the decision in the previous case, with a hearing scheduled for August. If Clarkson is successful in this current case, however, it would give the appeal little to stand on.
Clarkson and Brandon married in 2013 before splitting in 2020. That set off a series of legal disputes between the two, which has continued long after their divorce was finalized in 2022. At the time, Clarkson was ordered to send Brandon a one-time payment of $1.3 million, plus $45,601 per month in child support. The couple shares two children, daughter River, 9, and son Remington, 7.
