Kelly Clarkson’s Ex-Husband Brandon Blackstock Responds to New Lawsuit (2024)

Brandon Blackstock and Kelly Clarkson. Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Kelly Clarkson’s ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock, is fighting back against the singer’s latest lawsuit.

One month after Clarkson, 41, alleged in a lawsuit that she should be awarded more than the $2.6 million that a California labor commissioner ruled Blackstock, 47, owed her, the American Idol winner’s ex is now requesting the case be dismissed.

According to court documents obtained by People on Monday, April 15, Blackstock and his management firm, Starstruck Management, deny “each and every allegation” raised by the pop superstar.

Blackstock and his legal team argue that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the ruling previously made by the labor commissioner in November 2023 “is binding on Clarkson.”

Because she did not “file a notice of appeal within 10 days” from when the decision was made, Blackstock and his attorneys claim in court documents it is outside of the proper jurisdiction to file a separate lawsuit now.

“[Clarkson’s] complaint fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against Starstruck,” Blackstock’s team argues in court docs, “and is, therefore, barred for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”

Back in November 2023, a California labor commissioner ruled that Blackstock owes his ex-wife $2,641,374 in commissions.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ at the time, Blackstock secured his then-wife a range of opportunities, including being a coach on The Voice, hosting the Billboard Music Awards and brand deals with companies like Norwegian Cruise Line and Wayfair. Managers, however, are not typically permitted to secure their clients’ new jobs as that is the role of talent agents.

Blackstock reportedly collected a fee for booking Clarkson’s gigs, which TMZ claimed totaled more than the musician’s salary for each appearance.

Nearly four months after the labor commissioner’s ruling, Clarkson filed a separate lawsuit and argued that Starstruck violated state labor rules by acting as unlicensed talent agents who booked business deals during her time with the company.

As part of her latest suit, The Voice judge was seeking “any and all commissions, fees, profits, advances, producing fees or other monies” she paid to Starstruck, which is owned by Brandon’s dad, Narvel Blackstock.

In response to the lawsuit, Brandon’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, released a statement, telling Rolling Stone, “It is morally, ethically and legally wrong to attempt to get monies back from your ex-husband who not only helped her as her manager but who used those earnings on their children and Kelly and Brandon’s lifestyle during the marriage.”

Before finding themselves in legal disagreements, Clarkson and Blackstock were married for seven years and welcomed two children together: River Rose, 9, and Remington, 7. (Brandon also had two older children from a previous relationship.)

In June 2020, Clarkson filed for divorce after seven years of marriage. It was finalized two years later.

“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,” she recalled in March 2023 appearance on the “Angie Martinez IRL” podcast. “Anyone that’s been divorced [knows]. That was years in trying to make — not make it work, cause I never wanted to be part of something to make it work. 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.”