Kelly Clarkson Not Ready for New Relationship After Divorce

Kelly Clarkson isn't ready for a new relationship.

The 41-year-old pop star tied the knot with Brandon Blackstock in 2013 and has River, 9, as well as seven-year-old Remy with him, but the pair divorced in 2021 over "irreconcilable differences,” and she has now insisted that she needs to do some more "work" on herself before looking for someone new.

Speaking on her self-titled NBC talk show on Wednesday (Dec. 20), she said: "I am still in the stage of really enjoying me but after divorce it can be hard. I think I need a little more work on me in a relationship to make sure I take care of myself at the same time as somebody else."

The "Behind These Hazel Eyes" hit maker revealed that even though she and her ex-husband never allowed their dogs to sleep on their bed with them when they were together, her canine companions now snuggle up with her on an evening and joked that they would probably "hate" any new man that might come in.

She added: "I cuddle with my dogs. My dogs never knew my bed...we never allowed dogs in the bed because it's for fun - that kind of fun. The good kind of fun! But ever since I’ve been separated, now divorced, my dogs have been ruling my bed. I think they would hate the next person who came in."

Clarkson added that one of her dogs had been a great source of comfort to her in the initial period of "grief" as she came to terms with her marriage ending and joked that she prefers "dog love" to human love at the moment.

She said: "I would cry a lot — as you do when grief happens — Henry would come in and would force his head under my arm and just sit there with me. And I was like, ‘Is there a man like this around? Anybody?' I like dog love at the moment!"