Brandon Blackstock was awarded a staggering almost $200,000 a month in combined spousal and child support payments from his ex-wife Kelly Clarkson earlier this summer. Court documents explain why Blackstock will be receiving such a high amount, and also why Clarkson’s The Voice co-star Blake Shelton keeps popping up. This is the clearest picture we’ve had of Clarkson’s divorce, which has dragged on now for over a year.
What’s Behind That Insanely High Monthly Payment From Kelly Clarkson?
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Kelly Clarkson is on the hook for a grand total of $195,000 to her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. She’ll be paying $45,000 a month in child support with the bulk of the payments, $150,000, being solely for spousal support. Blackstock, who has long worked as a music manager, insisted in court hearings back in February and March that he’d long intended to leave the entertainment business behind.
All About Brandon Blackstock’s Future Plans
Instead, he planned to become a full-time rancher in Montana, where the former pair owned a ranch. As a result, he was reportedly only bringing in $10,000 a month compared to Clarkson’s estimated $1.5 million. Clarkson has her wildly popular talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, as well as her The Voice gig and music to thank for her high monthly earnings. Part of the reason why Blackstock’s monthly earnings are so low in comparison is because of his pivot to ranching from music management.
The judge in the divorce wrote in his findings, “The evidence, in this case, shows that after the date of Separation, Respondent [Blackstock] made a very deliberate choice to change his life and become a rancher full-time.”
In order to make this happen, Blackstock testified “that he is not devoting any effort toward expanding his client list and music management business. … Respondent has made a very deliberate choice, that he testified he planned for a long time, to significantly change his lifestyle from primarily working in the music and entertainment industry to working in an agriculture community and lifestyle involved in full-time ranch and cattle work,” the filing continued.
Here’s Where Blake Shelton Comes In
Not only has Blackstock stopped pursuing new clients, but has also spent only a “minimal” amount of time managing his one remaining client, country music crooner Blake Shelton. According to Shelton’s IMDB profile, Brandon Blackstock is no longer listed as Shelton’s manager. Rather, his father, Narvel Blackstock, has taken over the star’s management, which is in line with what court filings and hearings have indicated about the younger Blackstock’s intentions to leave the entertainment industry behind.
Though some less than scrupulous outlets, like the ever-disreputable RadarOnline, have claimed that Shelton “fired” Blackstock, it would appear that the “God’s Country” singer has merely been transferred to a different manager now that Blackstock is no longer in the music business. These sorts of outlets thrive on drama, either real or imagined, so it’s no surprise that it would spread the rumor that Blackstock was fired or that Shelton was “taking sides” in the divorce. In reality, this was likely a planned move that had been in the works since Blackstock decided to step away from the music industry and focus on ranching.