Kelly Clarkson is ready to say goodbye to her surname. The singer has reportedly filed to legally change her name to Kelly Brianne, which is her middle name. US Weekly broke the news revealing that the 39 year old wrote in court documents filed on Valentine’s day that she has a “desire” to change it because “my new name more fully reflects who I am.” The hearing is on March 28th regarding the petition.
Although Kelly did not directly mention her father, she has been very open about their strained relationship, so she may be ready to continue her legacy without his last name. One of her biggest hits, “Because of You,” is about her parent’s divorce and the pain she felt when her father became absent from her life at the age of 6. “Because of you, I don’t know how to let anyone else in. Because of you, I’m ashamed of my life because it’s empty. Because of you, I am afraid,” were some of the heartbreaking lyrics.
In 2018, on the Scandinavian talk show Skavlan, she explained her decision to stop contacting her father. “You’re like, I shouldn’t have to work this hard for someone’s love. Like, that’s a little ridiculous,” she said, per Country Living. “Even if it’s not your father, whoever it is in your life if someone presents such a cancerous environment and then just keeps hurting you, and even if they’re doing it inadvertently and they just don’t know better, you should just not have that person in your life,” she continued.
Kelly has been going through a lot over the last 2 years following her public and messy divorce from Brandon Blackstock. Along with an order for Kelly to pay $150,000 per month in spousal support and an additional $45,601 per month to “benefit” their children, she agreed to give Blackson a 5.12 percent share of their Montana ranch. Per US, the share amounts to $908,800.