Kelly Clarkson’s Ex-Husband Brandon Blackstock Dated Her Former Assistant Before He Died
The exes were married for seven years and had two children, River and Remington before he passed away in August 2025.
Updated Aug. 13 2025, 2:10 p.m. ET
Singer and daytime queen Kelly Clarkson has shared a lot of herself since winning American Idol's debut season in 2022. One of her most significant personal issues came when she announced her split from her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock.
Before Brandon died of cancer in August 2025, he and Kelly were in a tumultuous divorce, which resulted in her being ordered by the court to pay him a one-time payment of $1,326,161, as well as $115,000 per month in spousal support until January 31, 2024, and $45,601 per month in child support, plus a one-time sum of $350,000.
Kelly and Brandon's divorce shocked the singer's fans and, admittedly, her. Many have wondered if infidelity led to the couple's woes. Here's what to know.
Did Brandon Blackstock cheat on Kelly Clarkson?
Brandon and Kelly never officially confirmed if he cheated on her during their marriage. However, when Brandon passed away, his obituary stated he was in a romantic relationship with Kelly's former assistant, Brittney Marie Jones.
"Brandon, along with his beautiful and loving partner in life and business, Brittney Marie Jones, started building a life, building companies, and working tirelessly to create Headwaters Livestock Auction and what will live on as his legacy, The Valley View Rodeo in Bozeman, Montana," the obit read.
According to Brittney's LinkedIn, she worked for Kelly and Brandon from 2016 until 2020. The "Stronger" singer filed for divorce from the music producer in 2020, and their fivorce was finalized in 2022. Brandon's obituary stated he and Brittney were together for three years, which would've made them official in 2022.
Prior to his death, the exes weathered some cheating rumors while they were married. In 2013, the rumors of Brandon cheating circulated after an anonymous person claimed she had been" intimate" with Brandon.
"We haven’t slept together," the individual reportedly posted, "but we’ve been intimate in other ways." Adding, "I really hope his wife keeps her eye on him because he’s not the great man she thinks he is."
At the time, in response to the rumors, Kelly had taken to Twitter to address the claims and asked people to mind their business and get out of hers.
So, what happened between Kelly and Brandon that led to divorce?
According to US Weekly, Kelly filed for divorce from her husband in early June 2020. The divorce petition cited "irreconcilable differences," which seems to be the catch-all reason many celebrities give for a divorce.
The couple, who wed in 2013, share two children together, 5-year-old River Rose, and 4-year-old Remington Alexander. The two also parent Brandon's two older children — 18-year-old Savannah, and 13-year-old Seth — from his previous marriage to Melissa Ashworth.
According to the court documents obtained by Us Weekly, the American Idol alum and her estranged husband agree on the matter of custody of their young children and are both seeking joint physical and legal custody of River Rose and Remington Alexander.
Their divorce shocked fans since Kelly had been sharing positives only between the two. A source who was close to Kelly told the outlet that the couple didn't see eye-to-eye "on so many levels" during their relationship, and that combined with quarantining together pushed their strain further.
“And being in quarantine together heightened their problems to the point of no return. So she filed for divorce,” the source said. “Everyone thought Kelly and Brandon had the perfect marriage, but they definitely didn’t. Brandon’s very laid-back, whereas Kelly’s pretty high-strung.”
Kelly Clarkson addressed her divorce for the first time during her talk show.
According to People, Kelly returned to the studio late September for the first time in over six months when production was halted due to the pandemic. In her first time speaking with the public since her file for divorce, she addressed her split from Brandon.
"As you probably know, 2020 has brought a lot of change also to my personal life," she said to a virtual audience for her show, The Kelly Clarkson Show. "Definitely didn't see anything coming that came, but what I'm dealing with is hard — it involves more than just my heart, it involves a lot of little hearts."
She continued, "We know the best thing here is to protect our children and their little hearts," she added. "So I'm usually very open and I usually talk about everything but in this case, I will talk a little bit here and there about how it affects me personally, but probably won't go too far into it because I'm a mama bear and my kids come first."
