In 2015, British TV star Katie Hopkins famously body-shamed Kelly Clarkson on X (then Twitter), writing: “Jesus what happened to Kelly Clarkson? Did she eat all of her backing sisters? Happily I have wide-screen.” The American Idol alum addressed it in 2020 on her allegedly toxic talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show. She told her then-guest Serena Williams that she always “had to… stand strong for myself with my body image in the public eye.”
The tennis star – whose looks have been harshly compared to Maria Sharapova – said she “loved” the singer for clapping back at Hopkins before. Unfortunately, the Stronger hitmaker’s career suffered from such remarks, including some from her former management and her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock. While she did a great job standing up to their “sexy” and “naked” demands, fans called her a hypocrite for her 2024 weight loss – A.K.A. her newfound confidence to enjoy nudity…
Kelly Clarkson Sued Her Ex-Husband For Telling Her She Wasn’t “Sexy” Like Rihanna To Be A ‘The Voice’ Coach
In 2023, Clarkson claimed to a California labor commissioner that Blackstock said she didn’t have the “sex appeal” to be a The Voice coach, per the New York Post’s exclusive report in January 2024. Blackstock was Clarkson’s husband and manager at the tie of the incident. He was then ordered to pay her $2.6 million “for unlawfully procuring deals that should have been handled by her talent agents.”
The Since U Been Gone singer testified that her ex told her NBC wasn’t interested in having her on The Voice. He said they were “looking for a more sex symbol type” like Rihanna. She also recalled Blackstock advising the network that they “had to have someone that was black. … They had to have a diverse thing” and that she and existing coach, Blake Shelton – whom Blackstock also managed – “were too similar.”
“Well, a wife doesn’t forget a time she gets told she’s not a sex symbol, so that stays,” Clarkson told her lawyer, Ed McPherson when asked how she could remember Blackstock’s comments.
Clarkson also stated that Blackstock “mentioned that he got The Voice for her multiple times” and “he was proud of it.” As it turned out, in 2017, he had spoken to former NBC Entertainment Chairman Paul Telegdy who asked him, “What would it take [to sign Clarkson to [The Voice]?” Blackstock answered, “Somewhere around Blake [Shelton] money.” Clarkson became a coach in the competition’s 14th season in 2018.
But behind the scenes, Blackstock “allegedly pocketed the rest of the money” he’d acquired from the deal. The Dark Side performer testified that she was “unaware until the trial that CAA only received 5% instead of the standard 10% agents commission fee,” per NY Post.
Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock were married from 2013 to 2021.
With “Blackstock’s story, particularly with respect to The Voice, [changing] several times during the week of the hearing,” per McPherson’s written document, the California labor commissioner ruled in November 2022 that he indeed “overcharged his former wife by $2,641,374 when he illegally booked The Voice, as well as her TV appearances for Billboard Music Awards, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and Wayfair.
Clarkson later said her marriage to Blackstock was “very limiting” for her. “I don’t feel like that’s necessarily the truth for all marriages, I just think that was for in my case,” she said on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast in June 2023. “If you’re on the same path at the same time—and you’re actually working together, and every day communicating together and doing the work—I think that it could be beautiful. But for me, it wasn’t that and it was very limiting.”
Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock have two children together: River Rose (b. 2014) and Remington Alexander (b. 2016)
Kelly Clarkson Begged Her Manager To Let Her Go After Being Told To Compete With “Naked” Stars
In a 2023 interview with Howard Stern, Clarkson recalled having to compete with “naked people” at the start of her career. It started with the host talking about the “big mistake” artists make of “[grabbing] at everything,” to which the musician responded: “I’m just known as the person that like, I don’t respond to money so you know, a lot of things have been thrown my way and they’re like, ‘No I don’t think you heard me like how much it’s for,’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t think you heard me, I’m exhausted.'”
She then spoke about her ex-manager, Simon Fuller who created American Idol. “He was my manager and label,” she said, before revealing that “he wasn’t really the one that was there [to manage her]. It was people working under him, and it just was not a good, right fit… It was like just character clashing like it was just not cool.” Literally I had someone underneath him come to my house and put magazines in front of me like ‘This is what you have to do in order to compete with today.‘”
“And I’m like, ‘Here’s the thing I have no problem with people being who they are if you want to be naked on the front of a cover. I think, I am actually a nudist I love being that kid but I just don’t do that in work life.'”
Clarkson explained that “it was the people underneath that I didn’t like and I called [Fuller]. I was doing MTV’s Iced Out in New York and I called him I was just crying and I was like, ‘You gotta let me go like you’re not here and I am miserable and I’ve been doing this for years now with you.’” Fuller “literally in that moment said, ‘Oh my gosh Kelly I had no idea I’m so sorry. Of course I will let you out I will. not only let you out, I will help you find management if you need to.’”
In 2022, the i hate love songstress said she “doesn’t blame” the people who suggested a more daring image for her. “At the end of the day, a lot of people look at you as a product, because they’re in a business — they’ll get fired if they don’t make money. So I don’t blame them,” she told Variety at that time.
She added: “Women love to be sexual. Everybody likes to be flirty. Everybody likes to be sensual. But every woman is not just that one thing; we are multifaceted. And they try to take that one thing and blow it up. I had to fight like hell to make sure that it didn’t push the envelope for me. I think it’s hard if you’re a young girl, a teenager. You’re still growing up.”
Clarkson has received a total of 196 award nominations for her work in music and television. She’s won 86 of them, including the following:
Academy of Country Music Awards
Single Record of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year – Don’t You Wanna Stay (2012)
American Country Awards
American Music Awards
Artist of the Year, Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist (2005); Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist (2006)
Billboard Women in Music
Powerhouse Award (honored in 2017)
Daytime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show/Series Host (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023); Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment – The Kelly Clarkson Show (2021, 2022); Outstanding Daytime Talk Series – The Kelly Clarkson Show (2023)
Grammy Awards
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance – Since U Been Gone (2006); Best Pop Vocal Album – Breakaway (2006), Stronger (2013)
MTV Movie & TV Awards
Best Host (2023)
MTV Video Music Awards
Kelly Clarkson Admitted “Being Naked Is Fun” After Her 2024 Weight Loss
In March 2024, Clarkson got candid about the “fun” in “being naked” following her drastic weight loss. In a segment of The Kelly Clarkson Show, she said, “I love being naked” when vocal director Jessi Collins asked, “Who is most likely to go skinny dipping?” The host went on to share that she once went “streaking” (running around naked in public) in Germany like Collins.
“I slept in a bathtub. And I had my clothes on,” Clarkson recalled. “Germany brings out the crazy. I’ve done streaking, too. Being naked is fun.”
Unfortunately, the hilarious confession was met with criticism of the singer’s weight loss. Even a popular plastic surgeon slammed Clarkson for lying about using a weight loss drug. During an interview with Whoopi Goldberg where she seemed to have ADHD according to fans, Clarkson said: “I am doing that wonderful shot that works for folks who need some help. And it’s been really good for me.”
She continued: “Mine is a different one than people assume, but I ended up having to do that too because my blood work got so bad. My doctor chased me for two years, and I was like, ‘No, I’m afraid of it. I already have thyroid problems.’ Everybody thinks it’s Ozempic, but it’s not. It’s something else.”
The issue continues to be a divisive topic in Hollywood. Recently, Oprah Winfrey spoke up against the “shame” of using Ozempic to reduce weight.
