Here’s Why Kelly Clarkson Just Sued Her Ex-Husband Brandon Blackstock
Clarkson and Blackstock’s divorce was finalized in 2022.
Kelly Clarkson has taken legal action against her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock again just months after she won $2.6 million against him and his father’s management company, Starstruck Entertainment, in a separate lawsuit.
The 41-year-old actress filed the lawsuit in a Los Angeles court on Monday, March 11, alleging that Starstruck violated state labor rules by acting as unlicensed talent agents to secure business deals, Us Weekly reports.
According to Billboard, Clarkson is suing Starstruck in order to recover “any and all commissions, fees, profits, advances, producing fees, and other monies” she paid to the company, which is owned by Brandon’s father, 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 the latest filing obtained by Rolling Stone.
After splitting in 2020, Clarkson and Blackstock, 47, have been involved in several legal battles. The Starstruck label sued Clarkson shortly after they filed for divorce, claiming 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 claimed that Starstruck served as unlicensed talent agents in violation of California’s Talent Agencies Act. In November last year, a judge ruled that the agency had brokered deals for Clarkson, including being a judge on The Voice, when Clarkson’s team at Creative Artists Agency should have gotten her the work. As a result, Brandon was required to repay $2.6 million in commissions for that and other deals.
In response to this new filing, Bryan Freedman told 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 previous case covered only 2017, but the new one goes back to 2007. A hearing is scheduled for August on Brandon’s appeal of the previous case, but if Clarkson wins this case, it would leave little to support the appeal.
After getting married in 2013, Clarkson and Brandon split up in 2020. Their divorce was finalized in 2022, but their legal disputes have since continued. During that time, Clarkson was ordered to send Brandon a $1.3 million one-time payment and $45,601 in child support. The couple has two children, River, 9, and Remington, 7.
