Kelly Clarkson unpacks her divorce from Brandon Blackstock on her new album Chemistry. In the process, she compares him to an Old Hollywood star with a tragic history.

The “Never Again” hitmaker traced her relationship with Brandon from its start to its bitter end across the tracklist. There’s no doubt that the song “Rock Hudson” was written about the end times, though.

“You were my Rock Hudson / It was real, but it wasn’t,” she sings on its opening lines. The meaning seems pretty obvious based on that alone.

However, you might not be aware that Rock Hudson was a real person and one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors once upon a time.

Read more about Rock Hudson…

Who was Rock? The actor made his Hollywood debut in the mid-’50s and starred in movies such as Magnificent Obsession and Pillow Talk. He played against the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Doris Day.

While Rock was one of the most recognizable stars of the era, he kept his sexuality as a gay man private and even had fake public relationships with women before dying in 1985 of AIDs.

To some, the lyrics of the song might take on new meaning considering the actor’s history. However, Kelly recently opened up about exactly why the reference to Rock – one of her childhood crushes – made sense.

“I thought I found my Rock Hudson,” she told Billboard. “I never thought that even existed, if I’m being honest with you. I thought that was total bullsh-t. So I didn’t even think that was real.”

Speaking about her time with Brandon, she said that “it just felt like a movie. And it felt too good to be true.”

“That was the reference,” she explained. “It’s not referencing Rock’s life, like his personal life and what he was, unfortunately, having to hide from the public.”

Before Chemistry was released, Kelly revealed how much she told Brandon about the project and if she thought he cared.

Press play on “Rock Hudson” below…