Kelly Clarkson is pulling the plug on The Kelly Clarkson Show, and for once, the reason isn't declining ratings or network drama. It's exhaustion. Pure, honest, human burnout.
"There's just too much on the plate," Clarkson told Deadline, and honestly? Good for her. The daytime talk show grind is relentless—five episodes a week, celebrity interviews, musical performances, plus the expectation that you'll be relentlessly upbeat even when you're going through a divorce, raising kids, and juggling a music career.
The show, which launched in 2019, was actually one of the success stories in a rapidly dying format. Clarkson won multiple Daytime Emmys, pulled respectable ratings, and brought genuine charisma to a slot that had been hemorrhaging viewers since Ellen DeGeneres torched her own legacy. But sustainability and success aren't the same thing, and Clarkson clearly figured that out before burning out completely.
The timing is telling. The Ellen DeGeneres Show ended in 2022 amid workplace toxicity scandals. The Wendy Williams Show collapsed under the weight of its host's health struggles. The James Corden Show departed after Corden wore out his welcome in America. Even The Drew Barrymore Show, which survived its own strike-related controversy, hasn't exactly set the world on fire.
What we're watching is the slow death of the daytime talk show as a format. Clarkson, to her credit, is choosing to exit on her own terms rather than clinging to relevance until the network makes the decision for her. That's smart. It's also rare.
The "too much on the plate" explanation is refreshingly honest in an industry that usually dresses up cancellations with corporate euphemisms. Clarkson has The Voice, her music career, her kids, and probably a deep desire to not spend the next decade doing the same show five times a week until her soul calcifies.
Daytime television will miss her—or more accurately, daytime television's dwindling audience will miss her. But the format was always unsustainable for anyone with options, and Clarkson has always had plenty of those.
In Hollywood, nobody knows anything. But Kelly Clarkson knows when it's time to walk away. That's more self-awareness than most people in this town will ever manage.
