Kelly Clarkson Sued By Management Company Ran By Ex Brandon Blackstock’s Father
Kelly Clarkson is being sued by her former father-in-law's management company.
Starstruck Management Group filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, asserting that the singer owes her long-time managers $1.4 million in commission.
Clarkson married Brandon Blackstock, the son of Starstruck owner Narvel Blackstock, in 2013 and filed for divorce in June 2020. The couple share daughter River Rose Blackstock, 6, and son Remington Alexander Blackstock, 4.
The lawsuit, obtained by E! News, accuses her of a breach of an oral agreement because she "decided that she is going to stop paying Starstruck what is contractually owed."
The 38-year-old performer started with the Nashville-based company in 2007 and allegedly agreed to pay "an industry standard" commission fee of 15 percent of her gross earnings, which include "future earnings" from projects she started while still under Starstruck.
The filing claims that Clarkson paid commissions throughout her career until recently. In 2020, she allegedly owed $3.36 in estimated commissions but has only paid $1.92 million so far. The $1.44 million still due is likely from her work on The Voice and The Kelly Clarkson Show.
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The management firm estimates that she'll owe at least $5.4 million by the end of the year in total, thanks to her talk show and her deal with e-commerce site Wayfair.
"Over the course of approximately thirteen years, Starstruck developed Clarkson into a mega superstar," the suit states. "Starstruck contends that the Clarkson Defendants are obligated to continue to pay Starstruck Commissions."
E! News reached to Clarkson's team for comment, but have not heard back. The Voice judge seemingly tweeted a response on Tuesday morning with a GIF of actor Laurence Fishburne in The Matrix who signals to bring on the challenger.
Starstruck's Narvel Blackstock was married to Reba McEntire until 2015.
Clarkson opened up on her talk show this month about her divorce from Brandon Blackstock, whom she initially connected with at the 2012 Super Bowl.
"What I'm dealing with is hard because it involves more than just my heart. It involves a lot of little hearts. We have four kids," she said, including her stepchildren Seth and Savannah. "And divorce is never easy. And we're both from divorced families so we know the best thing here is to protect our children and their little hearts."
The American Idol alum added that she will be private about the divorce and "probably won't go too far into it because, you know, I'm a mama bear and my kids come first."
The Kelly Clarkson Show airs weekdays on NBC.
