Originally appeared on E! Online
Kelly Clarkson is not quite done breaking away from ex Brandon Blackstock.
Amid a more than three-year legal battle, the talk show host has filed a countersuit against her former husband and his father Narvel Blackstock's management firm months after they appealed a decision by a California agency that ordered the group to repay the "Heartbeat" singer $2.6 million that they had received in commissions when Blackstock worked as her manager.
In her cross-complaint, filed in a Los Angeles Court March 11 and obtained by E! News, Clarkson's lawyers alleged that during her time working with her ex and dad's company Starstruck Entertainment between 2007 and 2020—the year she filed for divorce from Blackstock, the group violated labor laws because it was not licensed as talent agency.
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Clarkson's attorneys alleged in the filing that Starstruck entered into their agreement with the "Since U Been Gone" singer "as a subterfuge and fraudulent device to attempt to circumvent and evade the licensing requirements and other requirements, restrictions, and regulations of the Talent Agencies Act."
Kelly Clarkson Through the Years
The talk show host's legal team also argued that "all agreements between the parties should be declared void and unenforceable" and that Clarkson should pay no additional money to Starstruck, adding that she is "entitled to a full and complete accounting from Starstruck of all monies received by Starstruck" in connection with her contracts and work performed during her time signed with them.
E! News has reached out to reps for Clarkson and Starstruck Entertainment for comment and has not heard back.
Clarkson and Blackstock's legal battle over her dealings with Starstruck began in September 2020, three months after she filed for divorce. Starstruck initially sued the singer, alleging that she owed $1.4 million in unpaid commissions for her work on "The Voice" and "The Kelly Clarkson Show."
The following month, Clarkson's legal team filed a motion to halt the lawsuit. She also submitted a petition to the California Labor Commission alleging that her ex demanded "unconscionable fees and compensation," acted "in conflict of interest with [her] best interests," and was never a legally certified talent agent during the time she was signed to his group, Today reported.
In those documents, she also demanded her agreement with Starstruck be "declared void and unenforceable" and for the company to return all the money she paid them for their work as her talent reps.
In November 2023, the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement ruled in response to Clarkson's petition that Blackstock must return over $2.6 million paid in commissions from when he was her manager. He appealed the decision later that month, Today reported.
The Blackstocks have not responded to the singer's cross-complaint. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for March 27.
In the midst of their legal dispute over management fees, Clarkson and Blackstock finalized their divorce in March 2022.
The singer has been candid about the difficulties she faced amid her divorce, especially concerning the former couple's children, River Rose, 9, and Remington Alexander, 7.
"I don't want my kids to be those kids at school...when you come down to daddy-daughter dances and you don't have anyone show up," she said on the "We Can Do Hard Things" podcast in June. "You have to think of all those things and I think you play it out differently in your head, too. You try so hard—like, I do not want to do that to her, I don't want to do that to him—that you start never thinking about yourself."
However, Clarkson ultimately believes she's now in a better place post-divorce. As she noted to E! News last year, "I've lost a bit of me, like in my previous relationship, and I love having her back."
(E!, "The Kelly Clarkson Show" and this NBC station are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
