Kelly Clarkson’s estranged husband, Brandon Blackstock, is refuting the pop star’s allegations that he defrauded her out of millions of dollars over the last 13 years via “illegal services.”
Clarkson filed for divorce in June 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage, citing “irreconcilable differences.” And she followed that up by filing a fraud claim against her ex in October with the California Labor Commission. In response, Brandon filed legal documents of his own with the California Labor Commission the following month, which were recently obtained by Us Weekly.
In the paperwork, Brandon denies all of Clarkson’s claims, asserting that she’s entitled to none of the money he, his father, Narvel Blackstock, or their business Starstruck Management made over the last 13 years while working with her. They also claim that they are not beholden to the Talent Agencies Act because they did not perform their managerial duties in California. The singer previously claimed that she should be compensated for the “unconscionable fees” she paid for “illegal services” rendered by the father-and-son team from 2007 to 2020 because they were unlicensed in the state of California.
Brandon Blackstock’s lawyers, Bryan J. Freedman and Jesse A. Kaplan, also argued that there is a one-year statute of limitations on the Talent Agencies Act, so even if Clarkson could prove her claims, she would only be able to collect on commissions made within the year prior to her October 2020 filing. Freedman also previously 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.” Blackstock is requesting that the pop star’s suit be dismissed and that she be made to pay all of her estranged husband’s attorney fees. Starstruck Management Group also filed a lawsuit against Clarkson in September, three months after the couple filed for divorce, claiming she still owes the management firm $1.4 million in unpaid commissions.
Clarkson’s attorney Edwin McPherson, however, claimed in her 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.”
On top of this multimillion-dollar legal dispute, the couple is also still in the process of finalizing their divorce as Brandon is requesting over $5 million a year in child and spousal support, despite not being awarded primary custody of their two young children.
