Brandon Blackstock, Kelly Clarkson’s Ex-Husband and Talent Manager, Dies at 48 from Cancer

"While I normally keep my personal life private, this past year, my children’s father has been ill and at this moment, I need to be fully present for them," she wrote in a statement, apologizing to fans and expressing appreciation for their "grace, kindness and understanding."

Blackstock also had two children from a previous marriage, Savannah and Seth, and became a grandfather in 2022 when his eldest child Savannah gave birth to a son, Lake.

Narvel Blackstock previously served as Clarkson’s manager, and the singer and her future husband first met at a rehearsal for the Academy of Country Music Awards in May 2006, when Blackstock was still married to ex-wife Melissa Ashworth.

"This guy walks by, making everybody laugh. I said, 'I'm gonna end up with him. I know it,' " Clarkson told PEOPLE in 2013.

Several years later, they reconnected at the Super Bowl, and Clarkson. They were married in October 2013, and her deeply personal 2015 song “Piece By Piece” was inspired by Blackstock and the stability she felt in their relationship, compared to the abandonment she felt from her father as a child.

"This isn't a downer to anybody I dated before him, but I'm just going to be real: I never felt like, honestly, sexually attracted to anybody before him," Clarkson said in an interview with SiriusXM in November 2017. "And I'm not downing my exes. You know, everybody's different. But there was something about him."

“I wouldn’t have hired Brandon to be my manager if I didn’t see first-hand how great he is at that and how much he cares about Blake,” the star told Marie Claire in 2018. “And the way that [Blake’s] career has blown up, I would have hired Brandon regardless. He’s really talented at what he does and his mind really does work in a completely different way.”

Clarkson ultimately filed for divorce from Blackstock in 2020. The divorce was acrimonious, and the former couple’s Montana ranch became a point of contention during the proceedings.

The “Stronger” singer was eventually awarded ownership of the property, even though Blackstock was living at the home at the time, and lost a legal fight to evict him from the ranch.

When they finalized their divorce in March 2022, Clarkson was ordered to pay Blackstock a one-time payment of just over $1.3 million, plus monthly spousal and child support payments.

The pair were later entangled in additional legal battles; in 2023, Blackstock was ordered to pay Clarkson more than $2.6 million in past commissions for overstepping his legal limits while serving as her manager and unlawfully procuring her work in a violation of California’s Talent Agencies Act.

In March 2024, the singer filed a lawsuit claiming she may be entitled to even more money, though both parties withdrew their cases in early May 2024.

"I think the thing about divorce — especially having it publicized, and people thinking they know the whole thing — the hardest part of that is, like, it wasn't an overnight decision," Clarkson later said of the split in 2023. “I wanted to make it beautiful. I wanted to make it awesome. I wanted to make it everything it possibly could be, and sometimes that just doesn’t happen.”

She also revealed that the couple’s children harbored hopes that their parents might one day reunite, saying on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast in 2023: “My kids just came back from my ex and any time there’s mention of maybe him being with somebody else… they are just really adamant about keeping that dream alive that we might still be together one day.”

Blackstock is survived by his sons Seth and Remington, daughters Savannah and River, grandson Lake, father Narvel Blackstock and siblings Shelby, Shawna and Chassidy.

I wonder if this is why Kelly was missing from her talk show for such a long time, and also why she keeps postponing her Las Vegas concerts?

But that would be weird, because it seems like there's no love lost between them, since the divorce.

I'm sure that has everything to do with it. I'm happy to know she cares enough for her kids to make those sacrifices. I'm also glad she wasn't having some kind of breakdown. Then again, both can be true at the same time.

[quote]But that would be weird, because it seems like there's no love lost between them, since the divorce.

It's not weird to prioritize your kids when their father's dying.

Kelly and Reba are sweethearts

Lay off the sarcasm in this one, kids

Who names their kid Narvel?

I'm surprised the media kept a lid on this for so long.

Surely, they must have known that Brandon had cancer.

However, nothing about it was leaked. At all.

That's a first, for the usually insensitive tabloid media.

They must really like Kelly, to have kept this secret for her.

Why does Kelly dress her kid up like this?

He's not a doll!

He's been battling cancer for 3 years.

They divorced in March 2022...

[quote]They divorced in March 2022...

That's when it was finalized. The divorce was initiated in 2020, as OP's article states (see R1).

But he had been stealing her money for over a decade R9

His father did the same thing to Reba McEntire. That may have led Kelly to start looking at her own finances since he was her manager.

[quote] But he had been stealing her money for over a decade

[quote] His father did the same thing to Reba McEntire.

Well that's pretty shitty.

I'm sorry he had cancer, but he doesn't sound like a very nice guy.

What kind of cancer was it?

Yes, he was a cheat and a liar when they were together. You know what happens to liars, right?

Yeah, I had read about him stealing from Kelly and wasn't sure if his father had done the same to Reba. Vague memory now confirmed.

Sad situation to be bamboozled by your children's father and when she tried to make it right for herself, cancer reared its head. I'm not sure that I would feel guilty about continuing with legal proceedings if my ex had cancer. Children complicate the matter. I guess it became too much and she dropped the last lawsuit.

When I read that she canceled her shows, I thought "Uh, oh. Shades of Adele," especially after hearing she wants to quit the talk show, burnout, etc. She wasn't flaky. Life got difficult.

Kelly gave him cancer

Has Reba commented?

[quote] It's not weird to prioritize your kids when their father's dying.

Honey, this is Datalounge, all human connections are weird to these gurls.

[quote] When I read that she canceled her shows, I thought "Uh, oh. Shades of Adele," especially after hearing she wants to quit the talk show, burnout, etc. She wasn't flaky. Life got difficult.

Notwithstanding this sad turn for her family, she IS kinda flaky and I don't think all of the turbulence in her life is due to her ex-husband's cancer battle.

This might also explain some of Kelly's show absences from earlier this year.

To all the people who were giving her shit, you never know what someone is going through. She clearly was taking care of her kids and family.

According to TMZ it was melanoma.

He was already a grandfather in his 40's?

Well, I definitely give Kelly a pass now for her weird behavior over the past year and especially as of late. I just read this morning him being ill was the reason she was canceling her LV residency.

It doesn't matter that they were divorced/divorcing. This is/was the father of her two children. If you think that doesn't affect her, you are obviously void of feelings. Just thinking of how she was going to help her kids through losing their father is probably utterly overwhelming. I can't even imagine how one prepares themselves, much less their young kids, for the inevitable death of a parent. No wonder she missed a bunch of time with her show. He was probably given a diagnosis of terminal earlier this year. I'm only surprised that she even entertained the LV residency, unless he WASN'T given a terminal diagnosis, and things went south very quickly.

I feel bad for Kelly and her family, and on top of it, they have to deal with the publicity surrounding it and can't just have privacy right now. Best wishes to her and her family.

It’s not like she’s a poor woman with starving kids, r24. I’m pretty sure she has plenty of resources to navigate this common occurrence. Yes, it will be hard on her children to lose their dad, but she’s better off than most to get help for them if needed.

His name is Kelly's ex

His hair is full of dyes

He stole all her checks

He's got Kash Patel eyes

After all these years, why is Kelly still cosplaying as a straight woman?

And when did she stop speaking English? In that interview, she is quoted as saying: I'm not downing my exes.

Weird.

You're a moron R2.

Per TMZ:

Rumors have persisted over the last few months that she was going to leave "The Kelly Clarkson Show" because of her numerous absences -- though we've now confirmed these were all connected to Blackstock's illness.

Everyone on the staff knew about the illness, we're told ... but, they kept it to themselves out of respect for Kelly and Brandon's privacy.

That's some loyal staff. She must must be a good egg.

Why didn't Kelly just have guest hosts fill in?

It worked for Carson.

She had guest hosts.

Reba McEntire's bond with Brandon Blackstock was special.

The 70-year-old country superstar was the former stepmother to the late talent manager from her previous marriage to ex Narvel Blackstock.

Brandon, who died of cancer this week at the age of 48, had a close bond with McEntire throughout his life.

“Brandon’s been my son forever it seems,” McEntire told Entertainment Tonight in October 2021, years after her divorce from Narvel. “Although he’s my stepson, I still love him like he’s my total — my blood.”

McEntire tied the knot with Narvel in 1989 and the former pair were married for 26 years before divorcing in 2015. The exes share son Shelby Blackstock, 35, as well as Narvel’s three children — Brandon, Chassidy and Shawna — from his previous marriage to Elisa Gayle Ritter.

"I don’t consider Brandon, Chassidy and Shawna [Blackstock] stepchildren," McEntire told The Boot in 2010. “I claim them all.”

In December 2023, McEntire shared with PEOPLE that her joy comes in part from her kids and their well-being. "I'm at a really good place in my life," she said at the time. "I'm happy, I'm in love. My kids are all healthy. My family's healthy. So I'm happy."

Through the years, Clarkson and McEntire have also opened up about their connection through Brandon. In 2019, the “Fancy” singer appeared as a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show, where Clarkson said, “I ended up marrying your oldest son and you got stuck with me more,” to which McEntire replied, “Thank goodness, thank goodness.”

When Clarkson and Brandon announced their split in 2020, McEntire chose to stay out of the drama between her chosen son and her longtime friend.

“Kelly and I do talk, we text and I love them both, and so I can't play favorites because I've been a friend of Kelly for a long time," McEntire told ET in 2021.

For her part, Clarkson said there was no bad blood between her and McEntire in the wake of her tumultuous divorce from Brandon.

“No, not at all. No, I mean we were friends before Brandon and I even got together,” Clarkson said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2023. “We text each other all the time. I think we’re both women of sound mind that know that life doesn’t work out sometimes. She would know best. Literally the same thing. So yeah, no hard feelings there. Just feelings.”

In March 2024, Brandon posed with his and Clarkson’s kids River, 11, and Remington, 9, in photos at the Houston Rodeo, where the family enjoyed an outing with Brandon’s brother Shelby and Shelby’s mother, McEntire.

The Blackstock family shared the news of Brandon’s death on Aug. 7 after privately living with cancer for three years.

"It is with great sadness that we share the news that Brandon Blackstock has passed away," a rep for the family told PEOPLE in a statement. "Brandon bravely battled cancer for more than three years. He passed away peacefully and was surrounded by family. We thank you for your thoughts and prayers and ask everyone to respect the family's privacy during this very difficult time."

After their 2013 wedding, Brandon — who was also Blake Shelton’s manager — became Clarkson’s manager, too.

On Wednesday, Aug. 6, Clarkson revealed Brandon had been ill, and she postponed her Las Vegas residency to spend time with their children, River and Remington.

"While I normally keep my personal life private, this past year, my children’s father has been ill and at this moment, I need to be fully present for them," she wrote in a statement, apologizing to fans and expressing appreciation for their "grace, kindness and understanding."

Reba's son, Shelby Blackstock, is super cute.

[QUOTE]who was also Blake Shelton’s manager

I guess he came well-recommended to Clarkson. I wonder if Shelton had any financial issues with Blackstock (what a name!), Jr. Or if the Blackstock men only preyed on women.who loved them, placed their trust in them, and provided children to chuff up their egos as they got robbed?

I feel very bad for Clarkson to be in such a position with conflicting emotions and a clear need to put the kids first. Imagine having to deal with traumatized children who aren't aware of their father's shitty, nefarious character while you're stunned and probably still angry.