There are few people in Hollywood like Kelly Clarkson. Think about it. How many celebrities are as universally beloved as Kelly Clarkson? My favourite celebrity may not be your favourite celebrity. You fave is probably not mine. But when Kelly Clarkson comes up, no one is like… nah, I don’t f-ck with her. 

 

That’s the public though. It turns out that within the industry, it’s the same. Kelly Clarkson, in the first year of her talk show, just won a Daytime Emmy for Entertainment Talk Show Host. Her first reaction was to thank the crew…

…which tells me that Kelly is not only popular with the public and her peers but also internally, behind the scenes, with the people who work directly with her. You know the kinds of stories we’re hearing about Ellen DeGeneres? Pretty sure there are not similar stories about Kelly. That said, it’s not like we should be giving out cookies for not being like Ellen. Just that it’s remarkable that that being kind to your staff merits distinction now. How did our workplace compass get so distorted? 

In addition to thanking her show crew, Kelly also made mention of the people who make it possible for her to have so many jobs – The Voice, her talk show, her music, etc – and look after her family. Specifically she shouted out the people who look after her home, her children. 

 

Kelly isn’t the first person to do this. But it also isn’t a big cohort either. During lockdown in particular, there are a lot of people wondering which celebrities and the ultra-wealthy have kept their caregivers with them, whether or not those caregivers have been able to see their own families, and these are certainly not the details being shared on social media. We already know that privilege has been even more pronounced during the pandemic and that it disproportionately affects those in already marginalised communities. The Cut did a piece on nannies’ experiences during quarantine in April. The focus was on high net-worth families in Manhattan, but it’s a stretch to imagine that this would apply to celebrities. 

Kelly’s not done thanking people though. She also thanked her estranged husband Brandon Blackstock. As you know, they just announced their separation and since then there have been all kinds of rumours about why they broke up, including unsubstantiated speculation about whether or not he was unfaithful. Whatever went down between them, whether or not it was infidelity or the strain of being in lockdown together, or the fact that they had grown apart, she’s clearly not interested in getting petty about the situation. If she is petty at all, and that’s doubtful, she’s directing it to John Legend – in the form of a joke: