Kelly Clarkson’s Ex-Husband And Former Manager Told Her She Couldn’t Be On ‘The Voice’ Because She Wasn’t “Sexy” Enough: “A Wife Doesn’t Forget”

Kelly Clarkson reportedly accused her husband of once telling her she wasn’t enough of a “sex symbol” to become a coach on The Voice.

The New York Post reports that Clarkson testified last year before the California labor commissioner, claiming that her ex-husband and former manager Brandon Blackstock had told her that NBC was “looking for a more sex symbol type” to coach on the show after she repeatedly expressed interest in joining.

She also said that he claimed NBC “had to have someone that was Black. … They had to have a diverse thing.” Blackstock allegedly told her that she and Blake Shelton, another one of Blackstock’s clients who was already on the show, “were too similar.”

While Blackstock didn’t think Clarkson was a fit for the show, she was hired as a coach on the show and remained there for multiple seasons, beginning with Season 14 and ending with Season 21, before she returned for Season 23.

The Post reports that Clarkson was asked how she recalled these conversations with her then-husband, to which she replied,  “Well, a wife doesn’t forget a time she gets told she’s not a sex symbol, so that stays.”

At the time, Blackstock stood accused of unlawfully procuring deals that should have been handled by Clarkson’s agents. The commissioner ruled in November 2023 that Blackstock overcharged her by $2.6 million as her manager when he unlawfully brokered multiple deals on her behalf, including the deal that landed her on The Voice in 2018.

Blackstock testified that he was advised by two music agents at Creative Artists Agency to negotiate the deal with NBC executive Paul Telegdy. He claimed the agents (Darryl Eaton and Rick Roskin) allegedly coached him through the negotiation.

“Critically and consistent with their negotiation strategy, Blackstock informed Telegdy that American Idol would be submitting an offer to Clarkson,” Blackstock’s lawyers, Bryan Freedman and Jesse Kaplan, wrote, according to court documents.

When Telegdy expressed interest in booking Clarkson, Blackstock said it would take “somewhere around Blake [Shelton] money” to sign her.

Clarkson testified that she was not aware of the negotiation until the deal had already been brokered. “He was proud of it,” she said.

She also claimed that she was previously unaware that Blackstock had allegedly pocketed some of the agents commission fee on the deal.

“In fairness to Mr. Blackstock, I stayed out of the money part,” Clarkson said. “I never was a part of the business conversations. I was always a part of creative. But no, that’s the first time I heard about any of that.”

The couple divorced in March 2022. Blackstock has since filed an appeal on the commissioner’s decision.