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Getting candid. Kelly Clarkson did not hold back about how her divorce from Brandon Blackstock has affected their kids.

During her Monday, March 13, appearance on the “Angie Martinez IRL” podcast, Clarkson, 40, reflected on how her daughter River, 8, and son Remi, 6, mirror her.

“I think I am my mother’s child, and I’m raising very independent children,” the singer shared about her kids, whom she shares with Blackstock, 46. “They will be out the door as soon as they’re able and capable. They’re very independent.”

The American Idol alum noted that she is teaching her little ones about speaking up and being honest.

“I literally ask my kids every night when we’re snuggling, ‘Are you happy? And if you’re not, what could make you happier?’” she detailed. “Sometimes they’ll say — especially the past two years — a lot of it — and it kills me — and I want them to be honest, so I don’t ever say, ‘Oh God, don’t tell me that.’ But a lot of times it would be like, ‘You know, I’m just really sad. I wish Mommy and Daddy were in the same house.’ And they’re really honest about it. And I’m raising that kind of individual.”

Clarkson, who filed for divorce in 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage, recalled her personal experience with separated parents.

“I just sit there and I’m like, ‘I get it. I’m from a divorced family as well. I get it. That sucks. But we’re going to work it out. And you are so loved by both of us,'” she added. “I think communicating with them and not treating them — not treating them like an adult, because they’re not — but not treating them like a child. They’re not small feelings. Those are huge feelings, and those are huge emotions.”

The performer discussed how an excerpt from Untamed by Glennon Doyle inspired her to pull the plug on her marriage. In the book, the author asked the reader if they would want their daughter to have the same marriage as them.

“It just changed the perspective on that,” Clarkson continued. “I am a way better parent when I take care of myself — the oxygen mask mentality, right? And you do have to take care of yourself in order for that to trickle down.”

The former couple exchanged vows in 2013 after two years of dating. In June 2020, Clarkson filed for divorce and cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split, according to documents obtained by Us Weekly.

Amid the divorce proceedings, Clarkson and Blackstock ended up in a lengthy legal battle over their Montana property. The Texas native later filed a separate motion requesting to be declared legally single. She was granted the request in September 2021. Their divorce was ultimately settled in March 2022.

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During her podcast interview, the “Since U Been Gone” songstress called Blackstock her “first” real love.

“My kids ask me all the time, ‘So you don’t love him anymore?’ I’m like, ‘No, I don’t know if that goes away,'” she admitted, adding that her personal life has inspired her upcoming music. “Every phase is on my next record. There is sadness. There is rage. It’s a lot because you go through all those emotions. If you don’t hit all those, were you really in it?… I was destroyed, like, on the ground, crying. That’s a loss. It’s a death.”

Clarkson also weighed in on her interest to “fall in love” again. “I don’t want another dude in my house with my children,” she said about the prospect of getting married for a second time. “I really do, truly love being single. I like my bed. I like my routine.”

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