Kelly Clarkson Recalls How Antidepressants Saved Her Following Divorce: ‘Wouldn’t Have Made It’

Kelly Clarkson is opening up about how antidepressants helped her after filing for divorce from Brandon Blackstock in 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage.

Their divorce was finalized in March 2022.

While on Wednesday's installment of iHeartMedia and Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players Network's Las Culturistas podcast, the singer and daytime talk show host discussed her tumultuous breakup and told hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers she was initially "so against any kind of form of medication" because of what she witnessed when she was a child.

"I'm like, no there's gotta be a better way of talking to someone, and figuring this out ... I don't want to numb myself," she recalled.

Things took a turn after she wrapped a previous season of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the American Idol alum said.

"I looked at my therapist, and I just couldn't stop sobbing," she recalled. "I actually had to cancel something 'cause I couldn't stop crying. I was like, I cannot do this. It was one of those things where I really had to put my pride aside and all of my childhood issues of whatever."

She added, "I was on Lexapro for like, I think two months. I was like, 'I don't want to be on it forever, I don't want to be that person.' Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just have issues with it because of my own things from childhood."

According to Drugs.com, Lexapro is an antidepressant medication that treats anxiety and depression.

Clarkson recalled thinking, "I can't smile anymore for America right now. I'm not happy, and I need help. It was one of the best lessons. [My therapist] kept trying to convince me, 'Girl, you're doing a lot.' And having to balance a lot and trying to put my best foot forward in front of my kids, I was like I can't do it."

Looking back, Clarkson credits her decision as "the greatest ever," adding, "I wouldn't have made it."

She said that when she began the process of weaning off of the medication, she realized, "I handled what I couldn't handle then, and now I have time and space. I took the whole summer off ... It was a really good lesson in you need to put your ego aside and everything aside and handle. If someone's trying to help you, listen."