- Kelly Clarkson opens up about her mental health and deciding to take antidepressants after her divorce from her now ex-husband Brandon Blackstock.
- The singer made an appearance on the Las Culturistas podcast to promote her new album, Chemistry.
- “I couldn’t stop crying,” she recalls of the period after her divorce.
From “Since U Been Gone” to “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”, Kelly Clarkson is the queen of breakup anthems. While her music may have helped empower us all at some point to get over a breakup, sometimes music doesn’t cut it—even for the singer. In a recent interview on the Las Culturistas podcast, Clarkson opened up about her mental health struggles after her divorce and the decision to take antidepressants.
“I looked at my therapist and I just couldn’t stop sobbing, and I was like, ‘I actually had to cancel some of the other day because I couldn’t stop crying. I cannot do this,’” she said, according to People. “And it was one of those things where I really had to put my pride aside.”
According to Clarkson, her therapist suggested that she take an antidepressant to help with mental health issues amid her divorce from her now ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. The singer decided to try Lexapro, which is a common depression and anxiety treatment medication, for around two months. “It was, honest to God, the greatest decision ever,” Clarkson said. “I wouldn’t have made it [without it].”
Lexapro is in the group of drugs called selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and increases serotonin, which is a hormone and neurotransmitter that influences mood and happiness levels. Lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, and other antidepressants are commonly prescribed by doctors alongside therapy for short-term or long-term treatments for patients with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. Clarkson says she was unsure about the medicine at first, but it ended up being an eye-opening experience. “It was a really good lesson in, like, ‘You need to put your ego aside, and everything aside,’” she said, according to Good Morning America. “When someone’s trying to help you, listen.”
For Clarkson, Lexapro helped her get to where she needed to be mentally and establish a more sustainable lifestyle after weaning off the medication. “And then by the time you wean off [the medication], it’s like…I handled what I couldn’t handle then and now I have time and space and I took like the whole summer off,” she said per GMA.
The pop star’s newest album, Chemistry, details all the ups and downs of divorce. The tracks cover everything from self-empowerment to heartbreak to acceptance. It may be easy to look at Clarkson (or any celeb for that matter) and think they’re a pro at handling a breakup, but celebrities really are just like us.
“It’s very personal. And I’ve always released personal music—I think I’m that kind of writer in general, everybody knows that,” she told TODAY. “I think when you have kids—you both have kids, too—you kind of debate, ‘What am I going to do here?’ So I was very selective about the songs I picked for the album.”
The star has been out and about promoting Chemistry by surprising fans in public with flash mobs as she gears up for her upcoming concerts in Las Vegas. We love that Clarkson is being open and honest about her mental health, and cannot wait to see her crush it on stage.
Isabella (she/her) covers commerce and product-related content in the home, lifestyle, fitness, technology and beauty. She graduated from Binghamton University in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in English: Literature & Rhetoric. Before joining GH, she was an editorial assistant at Prevention, where she covered health topics and celebrity news.
