SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE

Singer Kelly is there for her grieving kids after a family tragedy

- 

Their divorce was bitter, but popstar Kelly Clarkson pushed her resentments aside when her ex-husband was dying of skin cancer.

Brandon Blackstock passed away on August 7 after a secret battle with melanoma, a loss which has left his young children with Kelly, daughter River, 11, and son Remy, nine, bereft.

Throughout his three-year illness, the family managed to keep Brandon's health status under wraps and when American Idol winner Kelly earlier this year missed 10 tapings of her US TV talk show, rumours swirled that she was about to quit.

Fans also couldn't help but notice in early August that Kelly, 43, fought back tears during a Las Vegas show as she performed Piece by Piece, a song she’d written about Brandon in happier times. She abruptly cancelled the rest of her August concert dates.

Hours after the cancellations, Brandon, 48, passed away at his Montana ranch, surrounded by family, including his two adult children from his first marriage.

Kelly and Brandon wed in 2013 and in 2017, he became her manager, negotiating lucrative contracts for her, including $16 million a year as a coach on The Voice.