Singer and television host Kelly Clarkson is taking her ex-husband and former manager, Brandon Blackstock, back to court.
On March 11, the "Stronger" singer and her attorneys filed a new lawsuit against Blackstock in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming her ex-husband and his father's management firm, Starstruck Entertainment, have been violating labor laws since 2007, when Blackstock and Clarkson first entered into a relationship.
According to the latest court documents, the lawsuit would require Clarkson's ex to return “any and all commissions, fees, profits, advances, producing fees or other monies” after she alleges her former husband's company acted as her "unlicensed talent agents," which her legal team is arguing is "a violation of, among other things, the licensing requirement of Section 1700.5 of the California Labor Code."
The lawsuit goes on to allege that Blackstock's management firm agreed to act as Clarkson's "personal managers" to “attempt to circumvent and evade the licensing requirements and other requirements, restrictions, and regulations of the Talent Agencies Act."
Brandon Blackstock and Kelly Clarkson at the 25th Annual Critics' Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 12, 2020 in Santa Monica, CA.
The latest filing marks the second lawsuit Clarkson has brought against her former spouse, who she divorced in 2020 after seven years of marriage.
The former spouses share two children together—daughter River Rose, 9, and son Remington "Remy" Alexander, 7.
In 2020, Blackstock sued Clarkson, claiming she owed his agency unpaid commissions. In response, Clarkson filed a petition with the California Labor Commission and countersued, accusing her ex's company of “procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to procure employment or engagements” without being properly licensed and in violation of California labor code, Us Weekly reported at the time.
In November 2023, a California labor commissioner ruled that Clarkson's ex had, in fact, overstepped his managerial role several times while securing her business deals, taking over $2.6 million in commission that he was then ordered to repay Clarkson, BuzzFeed News reports.
Clarkson and BlackStock's split has been notoriously fraught—in January 2024, Page Six reports that Blackstock told Clarkson she wasn’t “sexy” enough to be a coach on The Voice.
Clarkson—whose time competing on and winning American Idol helped launch her 20-year career—said that Blackstock told her that network executives were “looking for a more sex symbol type" after she shared her desire to return to the show.
Clarkson became a coach on the reality competition show in 2018.
During proceedings involving her first lawsuit, Clarkson told the labor commissioner that Blackstock allegedly said NBC “had to have someone that was Black” and that Clarkson was “too similar” to Blake Shelton.
When Ed McPherson, her lawyer, asked Clarkson how she was able to recall this conversation, she replied: “Well, a wife doesn’t forget a time she gets told she’s not a sex symbol, so that stays.”
