Kelly Clarkson is getting candid on being Miss Independent.
The singer, 42, recently opened up about co-parenting her two children — daughter River Rose, 10, and son Remy Alexander, 8 — with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. Clarkson admitted that there is a double standard when it comes to working moms verse working dads.
The talk show host voiced her frustrations over school performances being scheduled mid-workweek during Kylie Kelce’s “Not Gonna Lie” podcast.
The “American Idol” alum joked she looks “like [an] a–hole” when she can’t show up due to work. However, when talent manager Blackstock, 48, can’t make it, he isn’t met with the same response.
“And then [my daughter] is like, ‘Why weren’t you there? This person’s mommy was there.’ And I’m like, ‘Congratulations to her because she made different decisions that led to her being able to be there on a Thursday at 10 a.m.,’” Clarkson said on Thursday.
“She’ll be like, ‘Well you know, her mom was there?’ And then you have to say, ‘Because she got a better mom and you got me,’” she added.
Kelce, 33, could relate, explaining how her three daughters — Wyatt, 5, Elliotte, 4, and Bennett, 2 — whom she shares with husband Jason Kelce, 37, guilt her when she has to work. The couple are currently expecting their fourth baby.
They don’t have the same response when their dad leaves for his ESPN job as a sports analyst.
Their daughters understand the retired athlete “doesn’t want to leave” them, but think their mom “could just say no” to opportunities.
Which led Clarkson to muse over kids subconsciously picking up on gender roles.
“Isn’t it funny though how different it is? Because even from a young age, like, we didn’t teach them [that]; they just innately [believe that]. Like, he is allowed to be somewhere, but you’re not? That is really interesting.”
She quipped: “There is a lot that I keep in … because co-parenting is fun.”
“It’s like, ‘Oh, he couldn’t come because of this [thing],’ and I’m like, ‘OK, cool. Do you think I just leave and just sit in the park all day?’” she teased.
But now, the pop star wants to show her kids that “Mommy does work, and that is OK.”
“Women and men work, and it’s OK,” Clarkson reiterated. “And you’re gonna be fine. Like, I was a latchkey kid … no one was there, and I turned out all right — kind of.”
Clarkson and Blackstock split in 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage, and officially finalized their messy divorce in 2022. Clarkson was awarded primary custody that March, and their kids moved to NYC with her as she relocated “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
