Kelly Clarkson on moving her show to New York: My kids and I 'really needed a fresh start'

Kelly Clarkson wanted a fresh start — so she's moving across the country.

In early May, NBC revealed that “The Kelly Clarkson Show” would be moving its production from Los Angeles to New York City. The Emmy-winning host and singer had yet to address the news until recently, telling Nancy O’Dell on TalkShopLive that it was a bittersweet decision.

In the interview shared May 25, Clarkson said she tearfully spoke with her crew back in January about relocating the successful daytime talk show.

“I have built such an amazing group of people. Obviously, we’ve been very successful and I love everybody I work with and we have such great relationships,” she said. “So I talked to them because I was like, ‘Guys, I need you to know what’s happening. It’s either I’m not going to be able to continue with the show or I got to go East Coast.’”

Clarkson explained that during the COVID-19 pandemic she felt “isolated” and so far from her family. “That’s not good for anyone and my family’s east coast,” she said. “They’re North Carolina-based, so it was one of those things where I just had to, you know, also there was a lot of personal things going on, too, where I feel like our family, me and my kids really needed a fresh start and I just could not get it here (in Los Angeles).”

The “Mine” singer filed for divorce from Brandon Blackstock in June 2020 after almost seven years of marriage. The pair reached a settlement in March 2022, with both sharing joint custody of their two children, daughter River Rose, 8, and son Remington, 7.

Uprooting the show was “100 percent my idea” she said, adding that she’s had “such a great experience with all these people and these relationships and it kind of sucks to uproot it and move it.”

“I was like, ‘Y’all I love doing this show. I really do.’ I didn’t even know I would, but I was like, ‘I gotta make a change for me and my family,’” she said. “I was like, ‘So any chance we can maybe do this, I know we can’t do this from my ranch, so any chance we can do it in New York, which is at least closer to my family. ‘Cause they’re like an hour flight away, so that was really the main reason.”

The Grammy winner did add that her love for theater and Broadway also made it a good move.

“I never thought I’d get a chance to do anything (for Broadway),” she said, adding that she is “writing something for Broadway."

“I don’t like acting in movies and TV, but I do love stage stuff,” she said.

In the meantime, Clarkson is focusing on relocating her daytime talk show and her 10-night Las Vegas residency, “Chemistry: An Intimate Evening with Kelly Clarkson,” that will support her upcoming album, “Chemistry,” that is about “the arc of an entire relationship.”

Previously, “The Kelly Clarkson Show” had its premiere weeks take place in the Big Apple the last two seasons. The series was renewed through 2025.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com