Landov
He put a ring on it — twice! Kelly Clarkson’s fiancé Brandon Blackstock proposed in December, but her canary yellow diamond engagement ring wasn’t the only dazzler he had in store.
For Christmas, Blackstock, 36, surprised Clarkson, 30, with a replica of a ring once owned by Jane Austen. A huge fan of the 19th-century English novelist, Clarkson bought the original ring at an auction in London but has been unable to bring it home.
“They claimed it as a national treasure and I can’t take it out of the United Kingdom,” she explains. “Behind my back, Brandon was trying to get that ring out of the country as my engagement ring. He was trying to work with my lawyer and they wouldn’t do it.”
Instead, Blackstock asked Beverly Hills jewelry designer Johnathon Arndt, who made Clarkson’s engagement ring, to create a replica of the Austen ring.
“It looks just like [the original] except he embellished the gold with diamonds,” says the singer, who wore the ring during her performance at the presidential Inauguration in January. “I’m such a hopeless romantic,” she says. “Obviously — I’m a Jane Austen fan!”
Read much more about Clarkson and Blackstock’s engagement — including details on that other ring — in her PEOPLE cover story, on stands today. Tell us: What do you think of Clarkson’s romantic ring from her fiancé?
–Michelle Tauber
