Inside The $10M Ranch Kelly Clarkson Won In Her Divorce Settlement

Dec 31, 2021 by apost team

Kelly Clarkson first became a household name in 2002 following her win on the hit competition series “American Idol.” Since then, the singer has sold millions of copies of her albums and toured across the world. Some of her most notable hits include “Since U Been Gone,” “My Life Would Suck Without You” and “Because Of You.” With an incredible vocal tone and range, Clarkson has easily become one of the best and most recognizable pop stars in the US.

Along with being a highly accomplished singer, Clarkson has also appeared in a variety of films and TV shows and has become one of the most beloved women in the entertainment industry due to her hilarious personality and charming wit. She was a judge for another singing competition series called “The Voice,” and is even the host of her own talk show, “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”

With nearly two decades in the public eye, Clarkson's personal life has been on full display. She famously wed Brandon Blackstock — who happens to be Reba McEntire's former stepson — in 2013. Together they had two children, River, 6, and Remington, 4, as well as two older children from Blackstock's previous marriage.

But sadly their union didn't last and last year in June, Clarkson filed for divorce from Blackstock. Since then, they've endured a bitter battle over child custody and assets. Clarkson was awarded primary custody of their kids and in Oct. 2021, she also won their $10.4 million Montana ranch, which was a big sticking point in the divorce proceedings. 

Before we jump into Clarkson's divorce win, let's take a look back at her career and how she got to where she is today.  

Clarkson was born on Apr. 24, 1982, in Fort Worth, Texas. While she attended Pauline Hughes Middle School, the school’s choir teacher had overheard Clarkson singing in the hallway, which led to the young girl later auditioning for the school choir. Clarkson went on to perform in several musicals as her school years progressed and even sang at her high school talent show at Burleson High School. It was clear that she had a remarkable voice from a young age, and went on to have classical training.

After she was offered full scholarships to the University of Texas at Austin, University of North Texas, and Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, Clarkson declined all of them, while she tried to start a career in music her own way. She recorded a demo and sent it off to various record labels but received little response. She later turned down recording contracts from a few different companies that she felt wouldn’t be suited for her desirable sound.

In 2001, Clarkson took the jump and traveled to Los Angeles to pursue a real career in music. She worked with musician Gerry Goffin and recorded another demo reel of five songs in a bid to land a record deal that matched her career ambitions. After she failed to get anywhere with a music career, Clarkson returned to Burleson, Texas, but didn’t stay discouraged for long. After she heard about the television series “American Idol: The Search for a Superstar” — which was later shortened to “American Idol” — Clarkson tried her hand at auditioning.   

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The hopeful singer auditioned with the song “Express Yourself” by Madonna while wearing a handmade shirt that Clarkson had stitched together out of an old pair of jeans. After she impressed judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, she received a golden ticket, which gave her a pass to the next round of auditions in Hollywood.

Throughout the competition series, Clarkson became a fan favorite and impressed the judges and the audience time and again with her stunning renditions of various songs, including “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin, “Respect” by Otis Redding and “Walk On By” by Dionne Warwick. In the finals, Clarkson once again performed “Respect,” as well as two original songs that would go on to be her first official musical releases once she won the competition. 

Sure enough, Clarkson impressed the audience with her gorgeous vocals filled with emotions and power and she won the first season of “American Idol” in Sep. 2002. She released a double single composed of “Before Your Love” and “A Moment Like This,” the songs she had performed during the finale of the competition series, and went on to achieve great success on various music charts.

In April 2003, the newly crowned “Idol” released her debut album titled “Thankful.” The album was full of pop, contemporary R&B and gospel-inspired songs. Her lead single, “Miss Independent,” was written by Clarkson alongside Rhett Lawrence, Matt Morris and music legend Christina Aguilera. The song became an international hit and earned Clarkson her very first Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.   

Even though “American Idol” had brought Clarkson the fame and success she had always desired, she didn’t want to stay in that image forever and decided to part ways with Simon Fuller for the project she worked on after her debut album. Clarkson’s sophomore album, “Breakaway,” was still conventionally pop music but had more rock and soul elements throughout the songs compared to her first album. 

She worked with established songwriters and producers, including Max Martin, Avril Lavigne and Kara DioGuardi, and her second album was a massive hit. Her singles “Since U Been Gone,” “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” “Breakaway,” and “Because of You” all showed off her incredible vocal tone and range and were highly successful on the radio and the music charts. Clarkson herself received great recognition for the body of work along with many accolades, including two Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards.

Clarkson continued to play with her sound and switched it up again for her third album, “My December.” The album was composed of heavier rock music and darker lyrical themes, and Clarkson co-co-wrote every song on the body of work. The lead single, “Never Again,” did well on the charts but received little radio play. The follow-up single, “Sober,” was the fan-favorite of the album, with Clarkson’s raw vocals on full display during live performances.

In Jan. 2007, Clarkson appeared on an episode of the sitcom “Reba.” She teamed up with country music legend Reba McEntire again for the release of a country version of Clarkson’s song “Because of You.” Fans were once again given a chance to hear Clarkson’s voice in yet another genre of music, which left even more people blown away by her vocal capabilities.  

As she worked with some of her previous collaborators from “Breakaway,” as well as some new songwriters, Clarkson released “All I Ever Wanted” in March 2009. “My Life Would Suck Without You” was the lead single for the album and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, bringing the star back to similar fame she had during her “Breakaway” era. She followed up with another single called “Already Gone,” which received some criticism for its similarities to Beyonce’s song “Halo.” However, both songs were written and produced by OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder, which accounted for the similarities.

After she recorded a country duet with Jason Aldean called “Don’t You Wanna Stay,” Clarkson was inspired to incorporate a slightly more country vibe in her next album, “Stronger.” After finding success in the country music industry alongside Aldean, Clarkson’s single “Mr. Know It All” easily became a crossover hit. The singer even released a country music version of “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).” 

In 2012, Clarkson released her first greatest hits album that commemorated the 10th anniversary of her career in music. The album featured many fan favorites, along with a few new songs such as “Catch My Breath.” She moved forward with her musical career and released “Wrapped In Red” in 2013, a Christmas album that featured the original song “Underneath the Tree.” In 2015, she released “Piece by Piece” with the lead single “Heartbeat Song.” Her most recent album was released in 2017, called “Meaning of Life,” while the soulful lead single “Love So Soft” highlighted Clarkson’s stunning control and colorful inflection of her voice. There's no denying Clarkson's singing talents, but the star was destined to achieve other things in her career as well.  

In 2012, Clarkson served as a guest mentor to Blake Shelton and his team of aspiring singers on season two of the singing competition series “The Voice.” This marked the singer’s first appearance on the series, as she went on to become a coach later on. In 2017, Clarkson served as one of the four coaches for “The Voice,” and returned as a coach for the following season. For her first two seasons, someone from Clarkson’s team won the competition, which led her to become the first female coach with multiple wins. The songstress continued to return to the show each season as a coach, even as other vocal mentors have come and gone.

For the 21st season of “The Voice,” Clarkson and Shelton both returned as coaches on the judging panel, alongside returning coach John Legend and first-time coach Ariana Grande. Each judge gets to select their team upon only hearing the contestants’ voices before they help them to grow as true artists throughout the remainder of the competition. The newest season premiered on Sept. 20, 2021, and is still underway.

Along with spending plenty of time helping aspiring singers on “The Voice,” Clarkson can also be seen on television on her own talk show called “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” Clarkson was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards for the show in 2020 and took home one of the awards. In 2021, she was once again nominated in the same categories and again took home the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host. 

Clarkson may have dominated the music industry in the '00s but her busy schedule meant that she didn't have a moment to focus on her personal life. However, that changed in 2012 when she finally started dating Blackstock, a talent manager who happened to be McEntire's former stepson. Clarkson and Blackstock initially met in 2006 but only got together six years later after Blackstock had divorced his first wife. They were engaged by the end of 2012 and got married in October of the next year at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee.

Blackstock had two children from his previous marriage, and in June 2014, Clarkson gave birth to their first child together, a daughter named River Rose, who is now 7. Then two years later in April 2016, the couple had a son named Remington Alexander, now 5. 

But by June 2020, the couple's relationship was on the rocks and Clarkson filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Since then they've been embroiled in a bitter custody battle and fight for assets. USA Today reported in Nov. 2020 that Clarkson had won primary custody of their two children. Then in July of this year, the singer requested to be declared legally divorced since "both (she and Blackstock) deserve the opportunity to build a new life." Their divorce was finalized in August of this year.

This brings us to the battle for shared assets that the couple is still going through. Entertainment Tonight wrote about the court documents that were obtained when Clarkson initially filed for divorce, which stated:

"(Clarkson) is asking (that) the court enforces their premarital agreement, and that both parties cover their own attorney's fees ... Property and asset division are unknown at this time and will be determined at a later date."  

In Oct. 2021, the decision on who was to keep the couple's Montana ranch was settled. According to CNN, the ongoing battle over the assets between marital property finally came to the decision to award Clarkson ownership of the Montana ranch valued at $10.4 million. To prove Clarkson's entitlement to the ranch property, the court cited a prenuptial agreement that both Clarkson and Blackstock had signed, which rejected Blackstock's claim that the Montana ranch was marital property. 

Clarkson had bought the ranch at auction in 2019 and the couple had been fighting over who got to keep it. Blackstock had argued that since it was bought during their marriage it was joint property, but the judge decided otherwise. Since Clarkson was the sole person on the title and due to the fact it said in her prenuptial agreement that she is entitled to keep everything she bought alone during their marriage, the judge ruled that the prenup needed to stay in place.

However, to complicate matters, Blackstock has been living in the ranch and using it as his primary residence and therefore doesn't want to move, according to TMZ. What's more, it was reported in August that Clarkson was eager to sell the ranch. Clarkson's attorney Laura Wasser had asked the judge if Clarkson was able to sell the property, but no ruling was made at the time.

The divorce is now final but specifics of the couple's property settlement still need to be sorted out. Nevertheless, TMZ said that the Montana ranch was the main sticking point in the proceedings and Clarkson won that one. 

Are you a fan of Kelly Clarkson? What do you think about her divorce battle with her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to any fans of hers that you know.