Finding inspiration amid heartbreak! Kelly Clarkson discovered the perfect coping method amid her divorce from estranged husband Brandon Blackstock.
“I have this record that we’re working on. It’s really great and really honest,” the Grammy winner, 38, told Entertainment Tonight on Thursday, February 25. “There’s just a lot of questions that I have to answer before releasing it for myself, you know? Whether that be business-wise or personally or whatever. Whatever happens though, it is such a gift. Like, I don’t know how anybody — I’ll just be real with you — goes through grief like divorce, any kind of grief, any kind of loss, without having an outlet like this.”
She added, “I have written, like, 60 songs. It is an insane amount of getting it out. I think that’s a blessing in itself. Anytime you go through some life, it’s such an awesome thing to have that outlet, regardless of whether people hear it or not.”
Clarkson explained how she always thinks about what she is “willing to put out there” in songs that tie to her personal life.
“I hate that I had to go through ‘Because of You’ or ‘Piece by Piece’ [moments]. Certain songs that I’ve written certainly have shaped me, but have been really hard,” she continued. “They’re just difficult decisions to put those out because they’re so personal. But the other side of [it] is like, ‘Man, how many people have come up to me.’ Like, ‘You have no idea. I never wanted to talk about it, I never have told anyone this.’ Music has that way [of healing], even for me. I listen to other artists and music has a way of healing you.”
The Voice judge was married to Blackstock, 44, from 2013 until she filed for divorce in June 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage. The pair share daughter River, 6, and son Remington, 4.
Us Weekly confirmed in November 2020 that they will share joint physical and legal custody of their children, but Clarkson will have primary custody of their kids in Los Angeles.
Earlier this month, the Texas native opened up about the challenges of coparenting with the talent manager. “It’s tough,” she said on The Kelly Clarkson Show on February 9. “I know with me and Brandon, it’s just a difficult thing because we’re in different places, and it’s like, we both agree on the main things, but it’s a hard thing when you’re not together all the time, for me personally.”
The American Idol winner explained that she and her estranged spouse try to focus on putting their little ones first. “As long as you make sure it’s about the children and their best interests, then we’re both on board,” she added.
Late last year, the “Love So Soft” singer teased what fans can expect from her upcoming ninth studio album.
“This next record, this will probably be the most personal one I’ve ever released,” she shared on Sunday Today With Willie Geist in September 2020. “The whole record is basically every emotion you experience from the beginning of a relationship to the end of what it is now or where it is now. It’s been very therapeutic for me. It’s very honest.”
