Patient Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson is glad she waited to get married.

The ‘Heartbeat Song’ hitmaker is glad she didn’t tie the knot with Brandon Blackstock until 2013 because she changed "so much" in her 20s.

She said: "I think the biggest thing is just getting married later in life … You change so much in your 20s.

"I mean, my husband got married at 21 in his first marriage, and they both went, ‘What?!’ It can be very hard to grow in the same way. Your 20s are all about growth, and giant mistakes."

And there was a time when the 34-year-old singer – who has River Rose, two, and Remington Alexander, six months, with Brandon – was plagued by questions about her sexuality because she wasn’t married with kids.

She added: "I’m from a small town in the South. Everyone thought I was gay ’cause I wasn’t married with kids already! And I was like, ‘That’s kind of insulting to the gay community!’ But, especially in this day and age, I had a very high bar."

Kelly prefers to be independent, something which she learned from her mother.

Speaking at a Good Housekeeping luncheon, she shared: "I have an awesome life, and I can hold this down on my own. I learned that from my mother. She depended a lot, financially, on a man. I don’t depend on Brandon, and he doesn’t depend on me. We made our own way in our own right, and I think that’s what really helps, too."

Meanwhile, the mother-of-two previously revealed she feels "way more empowered" since she became a mom.

She said: "Having kids cuts out all the bulls**t in the sense that I don’t have time to do stuff I don’t want to do anymore. I don’t have time to make you feel like it was your idea. I just don’t have time for it anymore, so it definitely cuts through the bulls**t and you just go straight for what you want."