Finding their new normal. Kelly Clarkson and Jewel bonded over being single parents — and how they’ve had to adjust to being without their kids during the holidays.
“I’ve been divorced for seven years, so my ex keeps my son for Thanksgiving and I have him for Christmas and it’s really great,” Jewel, 48, said during the Monday, December 12, episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show about her custody arrangement with ex-husband Ty Murray. “But it’s a trip to get used to being alone for a holiday like that and all my family are in Alaska.”
The “Foolish Games” singer, who shares son Kase, 11, with her the professional bull rider, 53, added that it “wasn’t too bad” of a situation before joking that she was going to “bring the show down” with “tiny violins.”
The Alaska native and the rodeo cowboy secretly eloped to the Bahamas in August 2008 after nearly a decade together. The pair then welcomed their son in 2011 but called it quits three years later.
“My husband, friend and partner of 16 years and I have decided to get a divorce,” the Grammy award winner announced via her official blog at the time. “Ty and I have always tried to live the most authentic life possible, and we wanted our separation as husband and wife to be nothing less loving than the way we came together.”
Jewel concluded her statement by sharing that the duo’s “dedication” to Kase is “unwavering” and that they were both “committed to being the best partners in raising our son.”
In June 2020, the Men In Trees star opened up exclusively to Us Weekly about how “hard” coparenting could be on their little one — especially during the COVID-19 quarantine.
“He misses his dad, he can’t go see his dad right now because of stay-in [order]. So it does affect his life,” she explained. “It definitely takes a lot of conversations to help him understand. And then also just to know it’s OK to be sad. It is a sad thing.”
On Monday, Clarkson, 40, echoed Jewel’s sentiment of finding her groove while flying solo as a mom. She shared that it was “weird” when her two kids — daughter River Rose, 8, and son Remington Alexander, 6 – left her to spend the season with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock, but there was a silver lining.
“It was weird because you’ve always had a kid there. And then all of the sudden, you’re alone,” the American Idol winner explained. “At first, it’s weird and then you’re like, ‘OK, I can do things.’ It’s kind of incredible. You do get a little me-time.”
Jewel, for her part, agreed that it was “good preparation for empty nest syndrome” and noted that being alone “forces” her to do the things she did before having a child.
“I suddenly seem to forget what I did. I’m alone and I’m like, ‘What did I do? I did things,’ ” she quipped. “But you get better at it.”
Clarkson added, “It’s awesome. And absence does make the heart grow fonder.”
The “Since You’ve Been Gone” singer and Blackstock, 45, began dating in 2011 and announced their engagement less than a year later. After they tied the knot in 2013, the duo welcomed their children in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Clarkson filed for divorce in June 2021, with a source exclusively telling Us at the time that the two “clashed on so many levels.”
After a messy back and forth, the “Moment Like This” crooner and the manager were declared legally single in August 2021 and a judge signed off on their settlement the following March.
In February 2021, Clarkson got candid about the “tough” aspects of coparenting with her ex.
“With me and Brandon, it’s just a difficult thing because we’re in different places, and it’s like, we both agree on the main things, but it’s a hard thing when you’re not together all the time, for me personally,” she told guest Khloé Kardashian at the time, adding that despite their ups and downs, she and Blackstock know that their “focus” should always be on River Rose and Remington’s needs.
“As long as you make sure it’s about the children and their best interests, then we’re both on board,” she said.