“I never wanted to get married the first time… [Brandon] had children, a religious background, and it was important, I think, for him. But I’ve never been that person,” Kelly shared.

Kelly Clarkson is continuing to open up about how she’s been coping since her divorce from Brandon Blackstock.

As you might be aware, Kelly and Brandon — who was also her manager during the time they were married — initially split in June 2020 after almost seven years of marriage. It wasn’t until March 2022 that their divorce was finalized, with Kelly being granted primary custody of their two kids: 9-year-old River Rose and 7-year-old Remington Alexander.

Ever since the news of their split was made public, Kelly has been super open about finding it extremely difficult to process the demise of her and Brandon’s marriage. Their split was also blighted by a contentious legal battle over Brandon’s unlawful overstepping of his role as Kelly’s manager.

In June of last year, Kelly revealed during a candid interview with Zane Lowe that she and Brandon went to couples therapy in a bid to save their marriage. She noted that she “desperately” wanted to make things work, but, she added, “I think I knew in my heart it just wasn’t going to.”

“I don’t know how people get through anything like that because I’m not going to say I did it gracefully. Behind closed doors by myself, it was not,” she shared about how she coped with the split.

“Just to be brutally honest, I did not handle it well,” she went on. “I had many sessions with just my friends [where] I couldn’t even speak. I was crying so hard, even before separating.”

Kelly also gave fans insight into how she handled her divorce from Brandon through her 10th studio album, Chemistry, on which she hinted at there being “secrets” and “lies” in the relationship.

“I didn’t see it other than ‘This is my outlet.’ I’m a let-go person; I don’t hold grudges. So it was really delving into what happened in my life and why — and what am I going to do about it?” she said.

Kelly noted that she was super glad to have such a “healthy outlet” for her “overwhelming” emotions while navigating her divorce, describing the entire thing as “extraordinarily hard.”

“I cannot express how appreciative I feel for having that kind of healthy outlet. Because the level of depression and things that come with divorce or grieving is extraordinarily hard,” she said.

Kelly went on to note that releasing Chemistry felt as if she was “taking [her] power back.” She said, “That sounds very therapy, but that’s because I love therapy, and I think it’s important to have those tools to navigate your life and relationships.”

“Sometimes you don’t know what life has in store for you, and you think your life is going to go one way, and it’s OK that it doesn’t,” she added. “You never know how beautiful that might be.”

“I’ve always known that love is hard,” she said. “For me, love has always come with this elephant in the room of sadness. I’ve known love is not forever. I don’t mean that to sound depressing, but I think we put a lot of pressure on that word.”

She added, “Sometimes love is looking at someone and going, ‘This is not good for you. This is not good for me.’ That’s a hard thing to face. But when you do, I think you grow.”

Kelly went on to admit, “I never wanted to get married the first time. [Brandon] had children, a religious background, and it was important, I think, for him. But I’ve never been that person.”

“Because I’ve been through a couple divorces in my family, I just don’t like to put any weight on it. It can happen; it doesn’t have to happen,” she explained.