Kelly Clarkson’s Bosses Supported Her During Talk Show Absences: ‘Whatever She Needs, They Will Do’

In March and April, Kelly Clarkson missed work to reportedly visit her sick ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock. A source exclusively tells Life & Style she had the full backing of TV bosses, who told her to take as much time out as she needed to deal with the family emergency.

"Kelly tried to keep this all very under wraps out of respect for Brandon," the insider says. "Kelly is very valued by [NBC], and they have told her that whatever she needs, they will do. If that means more time off and more guest hosts to fill in, then they will make that happen with no questions asked."

The former Voice coach, 43, was first absent from her talk show on March 3, with actor Simu Liu agreeing to host for the day after he was initially scheduled to be a guest.

"Kelly isn't able to make it today. We're sending her our very best," he told the audience at the time. "I did not know that I was doing this until about five minutes ago when I arrived to promote my new movie Last Breath."

However, he added, "I'm here now, and look, I'm not one to back down from a challenge."

Though Kelly returned the following day, she was missing again on March 6 and remained absent for the rest of the week. Several celebrities, including Roy Wood Jr., Wanda Sykes, Josh Groban and Brooke Shields, took over as hosts in the meantime.

Though Kelly returned in late March after 10 absences, she missed another episode in late April. Reports had claimed that her absences were due to a "family emergency," and a source told NewsNation that Brandon, 48, had been "sick."

"She took the kids to see him," the insider claimed.

Life & Style's source says that Kelly was "so grateful" to have "support" from the network and her talk show guests.

"She's actually blown away by how genuinely caring everyone has been," the source adds. "It's made a really hard time a lot easier because she can focus on the most important thing, which is her family. For all their problems, Brandon is still her kids' dad, so this really impacted them."

The insider concludes, "Kelly loves hosting her show, but her kids will always come first. So, as much as the network is being kind, they are being smart too. Keeping Kelly happy means keeping a very successful show on the air."

Kelly and Brandon, who share kids River, 10, and Remy, 9, finalized their divorce in March 2022. During the March 20 episode of her talk show, Kelly seemingly alluded to their split while celebrating the show's 1,000th episode.

"For 1,000 episodes, we have laughed together, we have cried together with beautiful stories, sang together with some people, danced together, celebrated and competed together," she said. "I've lost, alone, a lot. It's OK."

Though she has been focusing on raising her kids after her divorce and her 2023 move to New York, a source exclusively told Life & Style on Monday, June 2, that Kelly is interested in dating again.

"Kelly is not obsessing about finding a boyfriend. She has an extremely full plate, so it's not as though she's sitting around by herself moping about being single," the source said. "That being said, she does admit that she'd love to meet someone special. It's just a question of how to make it happen."

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This story was originally published June 4, 2025 at 10:29 AM.