Kelly Clarkson’s divorce from her husband of seven years, Brandon Blackstock, took a litigious new turn on Thursday after OK! magazine obtained a new fraud claim filed by the singer against her ex’s management company, Starstruck Management Group.
According to the documents filed with the California Labor Commisioner’s Office in October and obtained by OK!, Clarkson believes her 2007 oral agreement with Starstruck Management was a “fraudulent and subterfuge device.” Additionally, she accused Brandon—who also served as her manager—and his father, Narvel Blackstock, of working as unlicensed California talent agents for years. Clarkson’s claim seeks to void her oral agreement with the management firm and the Blackstocks, as well as compensate her for the “unconscionable fees” she paid for “illegal services” rendered by the father and son from 2007 to 2020.
The singer’s fraud claim is set to be ruled on in February and, if it’s decided in her favor, could also potentially dismiss Starstruck’s suit filed against her in September. According to documents obtained by The Blast, the management company has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that Clarkson still owes them $1.4 million in unpaid commissions, in addition to the $4 million she would ultimately owe for her ongoing work on The Kelly Clarkson Show and The Voice. That’s on top of the $1.9 million she’s reportedly already paid them this year.
The suit claims that, as part of her 2007 verbal contract with the Blackstocks, the pop star turned host agreed to pay a 15% commission on her gross earnings. The management company claims that “Over the course of approximately thirteen years, Starstruck developed Clarkson into a mega superstar” and they were “instrumental in helping Clarkson achieve success in terms of numerous hit albums, multiple Grammy wins and nominations, her role on popular television shows like The Voice and her own talk show. Despite Starstruck’s hard work and dedication, Clarkson has decided she is going to stop paying Starstruck for what is contractually owed.”
Clarkson’s attorney Edwin McPherson, however, claims in the most recent filing that “based on the wrongful acts and conduct of [Starstruck Management and the Blackstocks]…all agreements between the parties, should be declared void and unenforceable, no monies should be paid by [Clarkson] to [Starstruck Management and the Blackstocks], and all monies previously paid by [Clarkson] to [Starstruck Management and the Blackstocks] should be disgorged forthwith.”
Starstruck attorney Bryan Freedman told Fox News that Clarkson’s suit fails to mention she “had her own licensed talent agency CAA at all times” and the company operated as her talent management “at all times that CAA was her agency of record.…It is unfortunate that Kelly is again attempting to avoid paying commissions that are due and owing to Starstruck to try and achieve some perceived advantage in her ongoing custody and divorce proceedings.”
On top of these business-related suits, Clarkson is also currently still in the process of divorcing Brandon who, despite not being awarded primary custody of their two young children, is requesting over $5 million a year in child and spousal support.
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
— Inside the Always Online, All-Consuming World of Twin Flames Universe
— Rudy Giuliani’s Daughter, Caroline, on How to Accept That Trump Lost
— Carl Lentz, Ranin Karim, and Hillsong’s Unfurling Scandal
— Billie Eilish Shares How She Spent the Pandemic in Latest Time Capsule
— The Queen Says Goodbye to Her Beloved Dorgi, Vulcan
— Barack Obama on His Book, the Election, and What Actually Makes America Great
— How We Unmasked the Hollywood Con Queen Suspect
— From the Archive: Her Most Loyal Subjects, a History of the Queen’s Kennels
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.