Kelly Clarkson Is Granted Primary Custody Of Her And Brandon Blackstock’s Kids—They Have Trust ‘Issues’

Dec 01, 2020 by apost team

Kelly Clarkson filed for divorce from husband Brandon Blackstock back in June following nearly seven years of marriage, and now she's been granted primary custody of their two children. We break down the details of their arrangement, as well as Clarkson's thoughts on the development. 

Kelly Clarkson is America's sweetheart, and while she puts on a positive face for fans, this year has not been an easy one for her. Back on June 4, the former American Idol winner filed for divorce from her husband Brandon Blackstock. A talent manager by profession, Blackstock is also the stepson of Reba McEntire. According to Us Weekly, Clarkson cited "irreconcilable differences" on the paperwork she filed, while the classification on the case was "dissolution with minor children."

Now, months later, the court has made further decisions in relation to the couple's split, with Clarkson receiving primary custody of their two children, daughter River, 6, and son Remington, 4. In documents obtained by Us Weekly, the paperwork states:

"The Court finds that under the circumstances present in this case, the interest in providing stability and continuity for the minor children weighs in favor of Petitioner having primary custody."

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Clarkson and Blackstock will both have joint physical and legal custody of their two children, but Clarkson will have primary physical custody in LA. Blackstock, who is a Texas native, is expected to reside in Montana. Us Weekly further reports that the paperwork stated:

"The level of conflict between the parents has increased. The parties have a difficult time coparenting due to issues of trust between them."

The ruling means that Blackstock will be allowed to visit his children at Clarkson's home in Los Angeles. He was expected to spend Thanksgiving with them and will be joining them for the Christmas period as well, from December 19-25 until 2 pm. The monthly schedule will include Blackstock having the kids in LA, on the first and fifth weekends of the month, while on the third weekend they'll be able to visit him in Montana. Additionally, Blackstock will FaceTime his children every day "at a mutually agreed upon time."

USA Today reported that the document also includes a clause that neither Clarkson nor Blackstock are allowed to "speak in a derogatory manner" about the other to their children. They also found that both of them will be listed as emergency contacts on all of the kids' school forms.

Blackstock has two other children, Savannah and Seth, with his former wife Melissa Ashworth. Not long before they split, Clarkson revealed in an interview with Gordon Ramsay on her show that she'd wanted more kids while her husband was content with the number they had. Clarkson had said, as reported by Us Weekly:

“I so want another child, and my husband is like, ‘No! We have four!’...You get baby fever when you see them and you’re like, ‘Oh, I miss the chubby little legs and the little face.’”

In an interview with Redbook magazine in 2016, Clarkson spoke of how "hard" being a working mom can be. She explained:

“There are days where I cry and I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I can handle all this!’ or get it all done. But at the end of the day, 99 percent of the time, it’s awesome and it’s worth it, and that’s what I say to myself.”

Now that the second season of The Kelly Clarkson Show is back on the air, Clarkson took time to address what had been happening in her personal life in the season's first episode, which aired in September this year. She said:

"2020 has brought a lot of change also to my personal life. Definitely didn't see anything coming that came."

She went on to explain that it was so difficult because it involves more than just her heart:

"It involves a lot of little hearts. We have four kids, and divorce is never easy. We're both from divorced families, so we know the best thing here is to protect our children and their little hearts."

Divorce is hard no matter what, but it seems that Clarkson has her heart in the right place. We send Clarkson, Blackstock, and all of their children our thoughts during this difficult time.

Were you aware that Kelly Clarkson was getting a divorce? Tell us in the comments, then be sure to pass this on to those you know.