Last week, Kelly Clarkson postponed the remainder of her Las Vegas residency dates for August, revealing that her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock , was ill. Just one day later, the music manager, with whom she shares two children, died at the age of 48 following a three-year battle with cancer. While Clarkson kept this family matter private, the cracks in her armor began to show during particularly emotional performances in the weeks leading up to Blackstock’s death.

In late July, Clarkson powered through the ballad “Piece by Piece,” which was written about Blackstock and released in 2015. “I’ve never rewritten a song more, and I probably never will,” she said on stage. “I wrote this song with a lot of hope and projection for happiness and better than what was happening. And th

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