Kelly Clarkson is preparing to close one of the most significant chapters of her career, but as The Kelly Clarkson Show approaches its final episode, the singer and television host has revealed that the daytime program meant far more to her than a professional opportunity.
In a new video shared ahead of the finale, Clarkson reflected on the seven-season journey of The Kelly Clarkson Show and acknowledged that the program became an unexpected source of stability while her personal life was undergoing profound changes.
“A lot has happened in my personal life,” the 44-year-old singer said, looking back on the years since the NBC daytime series premiered in 2019.
For Clarkson, the show’s timing proved particularly consequential. What began as a new career challenge following her success as a coach on The Voice quickly became intertwined with some of the most difficult periods of her adult life. The COVID-19 pandemic arrived only months after the program launched, followed by her divorce from Brandon Blackstock, a major relocation for her family and, later, Blackstock’s death from cancer.
Against that backdrop, the routine of making a television show gave Clarkson something she came to depend on.
“I think that saved me, honestly, a lot of times,” she said.
The admission adds an emotional dimension to the conclusion of a program that, on the surface, has been defined by celebrity interviews, music, comedy and daytime television. Behind the scenes, however, the daily structure of the show offered Clarkson a place to work, connect with other people and direct her attention outward during periods of intense personal upheaval.
A television career that began with hesitation
The Kelly Clarkson Show premiered in September 2019, building on the visibility Clarkson had gained through her music career and her role as a coach on The Voice. Moving into daytime television represented a significant shift for an artist best known for performing and recording.
The concept was not immediately appealing to Clarkson.
According to the account shared in the original report by HELLO! Magazine and reporter Nicola Conville, Blackstock was the person who initially encouraged her to consider the opportunity. He told her that NBC was interested in discussing a potential talk show.
Clarkson’s first reaction was hardly enthusiastic. She recalled thinking it was “the worst idea ever,” joking that she “never shut[s] up.”
That reluctance ultimately gave way to a television career that would span seven seasons.
The show allowed Clarkson to draw on qualities audiences had already seen throughout her music career: an unguarded personality, a willingness to laugh at herself and an enthusiasm for performing. Over time, she interviewed and performed alongside artists and entertainers she had admired for years, including Julie Andrews, Pink and Alanis Morissette.
But the program’s significance cannot be measured solely through its guest list or television success.
The pandemic changed the show — and Clarkson’s life
The series had been on the air for only a matter of months when the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered television production.
Like other daytime programs, The Kelly Clarkson Show had to navigate an extraordinary period in which normal studio production was disrupted. At the same time, Clarkson’s private life was entering a period of equally profound change.
She filed for divorce from Blackstock in 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage. Their divorce was ultimately finalized in 2022.
The end of the marriage was followed by another major transition when Clarkson moved with the couple’s two children, River Rose and Remington, from Los Angeles to New York.
River Rose is now 12, while Remington is 10. When the talk show began, however, they were considerably younger — meaning that much of their childhood unfolded during the same period in which their mother’s television career was developing.
That connection between her work and family life is something Clarkson has increasingly acknowledged as she prepares to leave the show.
“My kids have grown up on this show, too,” she said while being presented with a yearbook containing memories from the program’s seven seasons.
The comment captures an unusual aspect of the show’s history. For Clarkson, The Kelly Clarkson Show was not simply a workplace that existed alongside her family life. It became part of the period in which her children were growing up and her own life was being reshaped.
Grief added another chapter
The personal challenges Clarkson faced did not end with the divorce.
Blackstock died in August 2025 at the age of 48 following a private battle with melanoma. Clarkson had previously taken time away from performing so she could be there for their children while he was ill.
His death also added an especially complicated dimension to the story of the talk show because Blackstock had encouraged Clarkson to explore daytime television in the first place.
That detail gives her upcoming farewell to the program an added layer of poignancy. A career decision that she initially regarded as a terrible idea became a seven-season undertaking — and, by Clarkson’s own account, a source of support during some of the hardest years of her life.
Her description of the show as something that “saved” her should not be interpreted as a clinical or literal statement about her wellbeing. Rather, Clarkson was describing the importance she attached to having a regular place to go, a professional responsibility to fulfill and other people to focus on during periods when her personal circumstances were difficult.
That distinction is important because the meaning of the show comes directly from Clarkson’s own reflection, rather than from speculation about her private experience.
Why Clarkson decided to walk away
Despite the show’s success, Clarkson announced in February that she had made the “difficult decision” to end the program.
Her explanation centered on her children and the desire to devote more time to River Rose and Remington.
The decision marks a notable reversal in the role television has played in her life. For years, the show’s demanding schedule provided structure. Now, with her children older and her life entering another chapter, stepping away from that routine is part of how Clarkson wants to prioritize her family.
The decision also demonstrates the unusual career balance Clarkson has maintained since becoming a household name after winning American Idol. Her career has moved repeatedly between music, television and live performance, rather than remaining confined to a single medium.
Her Las Vegas residency has been another part of that professional life. On August 15, her children made a rare public appearance at the final night of her residency at Caesars Palace, joining their mother for the occasion.
That family appearance came just weeks before the conclusion of The Kelly Clarkson Show, making the timing particularly meaningful as Clarkson moves toward what she has described as a new chapter.
Seven seasons of a career-defining experiment
When Clarkson first heard that NBC wanted to discuss a daytime talk show, she reportedly considered the proposal a bad idea. Seven seasons later, the experiment had become an important part of her professional identity.
The format also gave her access to a different side of the entertainment industry. Rather than appearing only as a performer or celebrity guest, Clarkson became the person asking the questions, welcoming performers and sharing a stage with people she had long admired.
That evolution mirrors the broader appeal of celebrity-hosted daytime television: audiences get to see familiar stars in a more conversational environment, while hosts are able to reveal aspects of their personalities that may not emerge through traditional music or acting projects.
For Clarkson, however, the show’s personal importance ultimately appears to have extended well beyond that format.
Its studio became a place where she continued showing up while the world around her changed. It was there during the pandemic, during the end of her marriage, during a cross-country move with her children and, eventually, during the aftermath of Blackstock’s death.
That history makes the final episode more than the conclusion of a television contract.
It is the closing of a chapter that Clarkson now recognizes as having accompanied her through years of extraordinary change.
What comes next for Kelly Clarkson?
The final episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show is scheduled to air Monday, August 31, bringing seven seasons of the NBC daytime series to an end.
Clarkson’s stated reason for ending the program is straightforward: she wants more time with her children. Yet her farewell arrives at a moment when that decision carries several layers of meaning.
Her children, who were very young when the show began, are now 12 and 10. Her own circumstances have changed dramatically since 2019. And the television program that she once viewed skeptically became something she now credits with helping her through difficult periods.
The story of The Kelly Clarkson Show, therefore, is inseparable from the story of Clarkson’s life during those seven years.
It began as a professional gamble she did not immediately want to take. It survived an unprecedented disruption to television production. It continued through a highly public divorce and a move across the country. It remained part of Clarkson’s routine as she navigated the illness and eventual death of her former husband. And it ultimately became a project she chose to leave in order to spend more time with the children who had grown up alongside it.
As Clarkson prepares to say goodbye, the show’s legacy is not simply measured by the celebrities who sat across from her or the performances that took place on its stage. In her own telling, its deepest significance was much more personal: it gave her somewhere to be when life outside the studio was changing in ways she could not control.
After seven seasons, she is ready to close that door — this time by choice.
Source attribution: This article is based on reporting by Nicola Conville for HELLO! Magazine, including Clarkson’s comments about The Kelly Clarkson Show, her family, her divorce from Brandon Blackstock and the program’s impending conclusion.
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