Clarkson on the cover of People. There are a lot of analogies for love out there, but Kelly Clarkson prefers to explain her relationship revelation through denim.
"I was dating skinny jeans and I needed Wranglers," the songstress tells People magazine of why she had never found herself in love before falling head over heels for her now-fiancé, music manager Brandon Blackstock.
Clarkson, 30, also recounts in this week's cover interview the day she realized what a great catch she’d landed with Blackstock, whom she’s been dating about a year.
"Out of nowhere I just said, 'Thanks for being an awesome guy,'” she shares. “I've never been loved properly by a man, and I was just like, 'I thank you so much for that.'"
Turns out he had realized the same thing about her … and had decided to propose. The “Miss Independent” singer, however, had absolutely no idea.
"Not a damn clue!" she tells the mag of when Blackstock popped the question in December. "If I did I would have worn something besides Uggs and a sweatshirt with no bra."
Clarkson and fiance Brandon Blackstock (Win NcNamee/Getty Images)
Despite finding herself unprepared for the actual proposal, Clarkson claims she knew she’d end up with Blackstock the moment she met him … more than seven years ago.
“This guy walks by, and I said, ‘Like that guy – hot, normal, funny,’ because he was making everybody laugh,” she recounts of first seeing him at a rehearsal for the American Country Music Awards. “I said, ‘I’m gonna end up with him. I know it.’”
There was one little problem back then, however. He was married.
“I’d go on dates and be like, ‘Man, I didn’t get that feeling I got that one time, [with Brandon],” she confesses to People. Coincidentally Blackstock’s father, Narvel, became Clarkson’s manager and his stepmother, country legend Reba McIntire, became her mentor. Her connection to the family led to another meeting with Blackstock at last year’s Super Bowl.
“He’d been divorced for a year, and it was kind of like, ‘Is this too soon?’ But it just worked,” Clarkson shares.
Now, not only is Clarkson a dedicated almost-stepparent to Blackstock’s kids, 11-year-old Savannah and 6-year-old Seth, but the couple plans to expand their family, too.
“We’re gonna wait a bit obviously. But we’ll totally have a kid.”
The Texas native has come a long way since winning the first-ever season of “American Idol” more than a decade ago, and things certainly seem to be going better than ever for Clarkson. She’s working on two new albums, just performed at the inauguration, is up for a whopping four Grammys this weekend, recently dropped 30 pounds, and is in the middle of planning a fall wedding at her Texas home to her dream guy.
"I didn't know life could be this happy," she gushes.
If only she got rid of those skinny jeans years ago!
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