Brandon Blackstock—manager, ex-husband of Kelly Clarkson, and stepson to country legend Reba McEntire—died on August 7, 2025, after a private three-year fight with cancer. Within hours, interviews in which Reba refused to “choose sides” during Brandon’s 2020 split from Kelly began trending anew.
Back then, Reba told reporters she loved “them both with all my heart,” calling Brandon “my son in every way that matters” and praising Kelly as “a good friend long before she ever married into our family.” Those comments, delivered while Reba herself was still fresh from her 2015 divorce from Brandon’s father, Narvel, now feel prophetic: a reminder that loyalty and love can outlast courtroom battles.
Kelly, who postponed her entire August Las Vegas residency once Brandon’s health turned, echoed the same grace this week. Sources say she shielded the kids—River, 10, and Remington, 8—from the worst details, never spoke ill of their father, and is “devastated for the children” now that he’s gone. Even after a contentious 2022 divorce settlement and a $45,601-a-month child-support order, Kelly’s only public statement has been one of compassion: “The kids come first.”
Reba’s last public photo with Brandon—taken at Rodeo Houston in March alongside her biological son Shelby—now circulates as a bittersweet family snapshot. Between Reba’s old interviews and Kelly’s quiet dignity, the Blackstock-Clooney-Clarkson circle is proving that grief, like love, doesn’t require taking sides.