Kelly Clarkson and her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock, settled their divorce in 2022 — but that didn’t bring the legal drama between them to an end. Clarkson has filed a new lawsuit against Blackstock, seeking to recoup years’ worth of fees that she says he collected inappropriately.
Billboard reports that Clarkson filed suit against Blackstock on Monday (March 11), asking a Los Angeles court to find that Blackstock and the firm run by his father — Clarkson’s former father-in-law, heavy-duty Nashville talent manager Narvel Blackstock of Starstruck Entertainment — had violated labor laws all the way back to the start of her client relationship with them in 2007.
Clarkson is asking for the return of “any and all commissions, fees, profits, advances, producing fees or other monies” she paid to Starstruck.
According to legal documents TMZ obtained in 2023, Blackstock allegedly charged Clarkson improperly for negotiating deals with The Voice, Wayfair and Norwegian Cruise Line, as well as her hosting gig on the Billboard Music Awards during the years he acted as her manager. In November of 2023, a California labor commissioner ordered Blackstock to repay $2.6 million in commissions and fees to Clarkson, a ruling that Blackstock is currently appealing.
That ruling came after Blackstock allegedly overstepped the bounds of his job, since in most cases, an agent is the only person legally empowered to negotiate those kinds of deals, while a manager oversees the day-to-day details of an artist’s career. Clarkson’s new filing addresses not just the previous fees the labor commissioner awarded, but all fees back to the beginning of her association with Starstruck in 2007.
Clarkson and Blackstock married in 2013, and she filed for divorce in 2020. They settled the divorce in 2022 after multiple legal battles over property, child support and Blackstock’s challenge to their prenuptial agreement.
The court awarded Clarkson primary custody of the couple’s two children and a ranch in Wyoming that Blackstock had hotly contested. Clarkson paid Blackstock a reported settlement of $1.3 million, and a judge ordered the singer and television personality to pay $45,000 per month in child support, as well as $115,000 per month in spousal support. The spousal support was set to end in January in 2024.
See Inside Kelly Clarkson’s Spectacular New California Mansion
Kelly Clarkson has purchased a stunning new mansion in California, with the news breaking not long after the pop superstar and TV personality sold her palatial estate outside of Nashville.
Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker
See Inside Kelly Clarkson’s Nashville Estate
Kelly Clarkson has sold her estate in Nashville after four years on the market. The singing superstar and television personality received $6.3 million for the 7-bedroom, 11-bathroom, 20,121-square-foot mansion.
Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker