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American Idol<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is still searching for its next judge following\u00a0<\/span>Katy Perry<\/a>‘s <\/span>exit<\/a>. And while fans of the hit series have been clamoring for\u00a0<\/span>Kelly Clarkson<\/a>\u00a0to replace Perry, the daytime talk show host tells ET there’s a very heartwarming reason as to why she just can’t.<\/span><\/p>\n Clarkson shared the deets Friday night at the\u00a051st annual\u00a0<\/span>Daytime Emmy Awards<\/a>\u00a0— after her eponymous talk show scored a Daytime Emmy for <\/span>Outstanding Daytime Talk Series<\/a> — telling ET’s Deidre Behar that while she has quite a few big things lined up later this year\u00a0<\/span>American Idol<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is just not part of that mix.<\/span><\/p>\n “No. No. I can’t do that, only\u00a0 because I promised my kids. I was like, ‘I wanna be there as much as I possibly can,'” Clarkson tells ET. “And it would put me in L.A., and that’s why I had to quit <\/span>The Voice<\/span><\/em>, which I love that team. And I miss them so much.”<\/span><\/p>\n Clarkson explained in 2023 that her exit from <\/span>The Voice<\/span><\/em> stemmed from “<\/span>struggling<\/a>” and not being able to “smile anymore,” and thus why she felt it necessary to relocate her family. Clarkson shares two children —\u00a0River Rose, 9, and Remington, 8 — with her <\/span>ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Clarkson, the very first <\/span>American Idol<\/span><\/em> winner in September 2002, moved her popular talk show to New York after four seasons in Los Angeles. Ahead of her season 5 premiere, <\/span>Clarkson told ET<\/a> that the move paid huge dividends for her and her family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Months and months after the big move, Clarkson tells ET that life’s still pretty great in The City That Never Sleeps.<\/span><\/p>\n “I wanted a life for us. And we enjoy the park every day and we enjoy each other,” she says. “As a parent — people get this —\u00a0 you only get so much time until they don’t want to hang out with you.”<\/span><\/p>\n She added, “That’s the reason [I can’t do <\/span>Idol<\/span><\/em>]. It’s my kiddos.”<\/span><\/p>\n During her acceptance speech, Clarkson thanked NBC brass for listening to her and accommodating the show’s move from one end of the country to the other.<\/span><\/p>\n “The fact that NBC, a huge company, took time and listened when I said, ‘Hey, my life is not going super great. I don’t know if I can live here anymore. I don’t know if I can do this,'” she said onstage accepting the award. “They really wrapped their arms around us, and they helped us move.”<\/span><\/p>\n