Many emotional conversations take place on the couches of The Kelly Clarkson Show, but it’s not often that the host herself is brought to tears. On a recent episode of her talk show, Kelly Clarkson got emotional when her guest of the evening, Sterling K. Brown, shared the heartfelt reason he stopped going by his middle name–Kelby—at age 16. Keep reading for more information.
Sterling K. Brown Shares The Reason Behind His Name Change
The topic of middle names came up when Kelly Clarkson shared that her son, 8-year-old Remington, randomly introduced himself at the Grammys as Remington Alexander. “He just chose his middle name as his last—he just changed his name right there in front of me!” Kelly laughed, before asking Sterling what made him change the name he goes by.
“I went by my middle name,” Sterling explained. “I went by Kelby until I was 16 years old. My dad’s name is Sterling Brown Jr., my grandfather Sterling Brown Sr., I’m Sterling Kelby Brown. I wanted my own name, and it felt like Sterling was an old man’s name.”
“Because he passed away when I was 10,” Sterling said of his father, “by the time I turned 16 and I hadn’t heard his name for five, five and a half years, I was like, ‘I kind of just wanna hear that name again.’ So I asked people to call me Sterling.”
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Kelly Clarkson Brought To Tears
Immediately, both the audience and Kelly reacted with emotion—while the audience let out an audible "Awwwww...," Kelly herself started tearing up. "Ok, ok. That was so sweet and beautiful," she said.
That's the typical reaction from fans who were watching from home, too. Writing on social media, one fan wrote, "I just teared up when he explained why he goes by Sterling now," and another added, "That took an extremely emotional turn."
"Aww the way they both felt emotion in that moment," a third person posted. "So sweet. It was just such a sweet, intimate thing to share."
