A real bond. Kelly Clarkson and Demi Lovato praised each other for being outspoken about their mental health struggles.
“I have similar issues, and I suffer from depression,” the American Idol alum, 38, told the “Anyone” singer, 27, on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Wednesday, June 24. “I think a lot of people, especially in the creative world, or just from childhood, you’ve been kind of trained to, like, just keep going and you can handle it. Especially as a woman, it’s like, ‘Don’t let ‘em see you sweat.’”
Lovato repaid the compliment, telling Clarkson, “You were, like, the first idol that I ever had. I wouldn’t be the artist — or even the person that I am, with being so outspoken and vulnerable and fearless — if I hadn’t had you to look up to, so I thank you for that. … When I was younger, I always thought to myself, ‘If I ever make it, I want to be like her because she’s real and she’s genuine.’”
The “Miss Independent” singer, who is in the midst of a divorce from Brandon Blackstock, admitted that staying positive “takes work,” more so than fans may realize.
“That’s a daily effort,” she said. “That’s not like a given, like you’re over it and you went to some magical therapy session and it’s over. I think that’s a daily thing that you work at and a daily thing that I work at.”
Clarkson’s candid conversation with the Camp Rock star aired nearly three weeks after she filed paperwork to end her six-year marriage to Blackstock. The estranged couple, who married in October 2013, share daughter River, 6, and son Remington, 4. The talent manager, 43, is also the father of daughter Savannah, 18, and son Seth, 13, from his previous marriage to Melissa Ashworth.
While the Voice coach has yet to directly address the split, she has been candid about her state of mind in recent weeks. She has also stopped wearing her wedding ring on her talk show.
“I have been an emotional roller-coaster,” she told Glamour UK in a YouTube video posted on June 16. “[The COVID-19 pandemic] has been really hard as a working parent ‘cause I’m still doing all the same jobs. … It’s been exhausting, honestly.”
A source told Us Weekly exclusively earlier this month that Clarkson and Blackstock “clashed on so many levels, and being in quarantine together heightened their problems to the point of no return.”
