In an emotional clip, Sterling K. Brown explained why he chose to stop going by his middle name — and made tears well up behind Kelly Clarkson’s hazel eyes.
In the video, posted to the YouTube page of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Sterling and Kelly took an emotional journey together, sparked by the actor’s decision to start being referred to Kelby, his middle name, instead of Sterling.
During the interview, Kelly shared that it was a sentiment she understood all too well, as her son, Remington Alexander Blackstock, had done something similar to her.
“My son did this, at a red carpet,” she said, adding that an interviewer had asked her son his name at the Grammys.
The Since U Been Gone singer revealed that her son opted to use his middle name as his last name and go by “Remington Alexander,” a move that shocked her, as it was the first time he had said it out loud.
Kelly’s response to her son? “Is this your stage name?”
The question prompted Sterling to share the story behind his name.
“I went by my middle name. I went by Kelby until I was 16 years old,” he confessed. “My dad’s name is Sterling Brown Jr., my grandfather’s Sterling Brown Sr., [and] I’m Sterling Kelby Brown.”
The Paradise actor explained that he wanted to carve his own identity, especially since he thought “Sterling” was “an old man’s name.” But the conversation took a poignant turn when he revealed that his father had died when he was just 10 years old.
Sterling went on to say that by the time he was 16 he hadn’t heard his father’s name for over five years, and shared how he simply longed to “hear that name again.”
This led the actor to reclaim “Sterling” as his name, a moment that moved Kelly deeply.
“That was so sweet, and beautiful,” she emotionally shared.