Kelly Clarkson 'couldn’t be in L.A.' anymore, so moved to NYC

Kelly Clarkson relocated to New York City because she ‘couldn’t be in L.A.’ anymore

Kelly Clarkson wears a black dress as she holds a microphone and sings on a stage

Oct. 18, 2023 3:34 PM PT

Start spreading the news, she’s already left!

Kelly Clarkson has moved her family and her talk show from Los Angeles to New York City. And now the Grammy winner is talking about her decision to move from one coast to the other.

For the record:

3:07 p.m. Oct. 19, 2023The headline on an earlier version of this article misquoted Kelly Clarkson. Clarkson said that she needed a fresh start and “couldn’t be in L.A.,” not that she “just can’t live in L.A. anymore.”

“I’ll be real honest: I thought I was making a horrible decision,” Clarkson told USA Today about her relocation. “I knew I needed a fresh start and couldn’t be in L.A. I really wanted to be in Montana, but you can’t really do a show from there quite yet. So I was like, ‘The only other option would probably be New York.’”

In May, it was announced that the singer’s NBC daytime talk show would move from Universal City Studios in Los Angeles and begin filming at NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York at the start of its fifth season.

“‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ will film in the iconic Studio 6A, the former home for late-night talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien,” an NBCUniversal spokesperson said in a May statement to The Times.

And when it came time to choose her home in the Big Apple, the “Behind These Hazel Eyes” singer knew exactly what type of place she wanted.

“At this point, I’m 40 years old. Mama rented something nice!,” Clarkson told USA Today. “I was like, ‘I’m not living here unless it’s right by the park and really nice for the kids.’”

The fifth season of the talk show launched on Monday with Clarkson’s NBC co-workers Seth Meyers of “Late Night” and NBC’s “Today” hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager as guests.

Clarkson seems smitten by the city’s charm. “I genuinely love it, and I love that my kids love it,” she said.

The “American Idol” winner’s show halted its production at the onset of the Hollywood writers’ strike in May.

“I felt in my gut, ‘This is what we should do,’ so we made the decision as a team to end Season 4 and stand with them,” Clarkson told USA Today of the decision. “I had a lot of hard conversations with people like, ‘Hey, we don’t know if the show is going to make it if you don’t come back.’ But that’s gotta be the hard decision, and it sucks. I don’t think people realize, with a lot of the people that got blowback, the stress of that decision.”

“The Kelly Clarkson Show” endured some blowback of its own after Rolling Stone published an article in May that highlighted allegations of a toxic workplace environment from current and former employees of the daytime program.

The former employees alleged mistreatment and favoritism from producers, deteriorating mental health because of treatment, lack of accountability despite multiple HR complaints, retaliation for filing HR complaints and inadequate pay among lower-level staffers.

Staffers said in the Rolling Stone report that Clarkson probably was unaware of the alleged mistreatment, with one former employee describing her as “fantastic” and as someone who treats her staff with “dignity and is incredibly appreciative.”

Clarkson responded to the behind-the-scenes allegations in a social media statement.

“I love my team at ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show,’ and to find out that anyone is feeling unheard and-or disrespected on the show is unacceptable,” the original “American Idol” winner said in a statement posted at the time to her social media accounts. “I have always been, and will continue to be, committed to creating and maintaining a safe and healthy environment.”

Times staff writer Jonah Valdez contributed to this report.