Kelly Clarkson ‘Had a Complicated Relationship’ With Talk Show, Music Is ‘Manageable’ and Lucrative (Exclusive)

Kelly Clarkson gave up her talk show duties to focus on family time, but a source tells Star that she’s simultaneously ramping up her lucrative music career again.

“Kelly always had a complicated relationship with that talk show,” the source says. “She actually loved the hosting part of it – being on camera talking to regular people as well as celebrity guests, and having to think on her feet while she did it.”

However, the source says that “wasn’t the problem.”

“The part of the job that bored her was everything else around the show,” the source explains. “She’s not a fan of meetings and she would prefer not to have to make 500 executive decisions a day and deal with a huge staff behind the scenes.”

The source adds that those aspects were “incredibly time consuming even when the producers did everything they could to lighten her workload.”

“Kelly was agonizing over the time it was taking away from her family,” the source continues. “Recording and performing her music live is a much more manageable and family friendly pursuit, and after all these years, it’s still been the thing she makes the most money at, by far.”

The source tells Star that The Voice judge, 43, “can write music and record demos at home, basically on her own,” adding that “doing a residency in Vegas removes all the annoyances of live touring, like travel, maintaining a huge support staff and tailoring shows to different regions and audiences.”

Plus, the source explains that with her upcoming Vegas residency, Clarkson “knows exactly who she’s going to be playing to: the bachelorette party crowds that originally fell in love with her and her music when they were kids 20 and 25 years ago.”

According to the source, the residency is “a nostalgia play,” but it’s one that’s going to be “lucrative” and it’s going to “give her more time with her children than she’s had in years.”

“Vegas is also a great place to sell merchandise and test out new music,” the source says. “She’ll be playing to an audience that loves her unconditionally and feel like they grew up with her, unlike the audience she had on her talk show, which comprised a lot of seniors and homebound people still watching linear TV.”

The source concludes, “This is the right move for Kelly, her family, and where she wants to go next with her music career. But as with everything else, family is going to come first.”

As Star previously reported, Clarkson announced on February 3 that she was ending her daytime talk show after its seventh season.

“This was not an easy decision,” the American Idol winner wrote via Instagram, “but this season will be my last hosting TKCS. Stepping away from the daily schedule will allow me to prioritize my kids, which feels necessary and right for this next chapter of our lives.”

Clarkson’s ex-husband and father of her two children, Brandon Blackstock, had died from cancer six months prior at the age of 48.