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Why Is Kelly Clarkson Wearing an Eye Patch?

Kelly Clarkson Reveals the Reason Behind Her Unexpectedly Pirate-y Look

Perhaps you've heard: Kelly Clarkson is going pirate — though, not on purpose! The singer and talk show host has recently appeared with a black eye patch over her right eye, prompting tons of attention and pirate jokes, even from Clarkson herself. The good news is that the actual story behind the eye patch is nothing too scary or serious.

Clarkson explained the eye patch situation on the Sept. 22 episode of her talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show, during an interview with guest Common. "I'm sorry I look like a pirate," she joked. "I hurt my eye and I have to wear it. And, so, it's ridiculous. You're being interviewed by a pirate today." Common, for one, took it in stride, telling her that she looked "fly" with her pirate-y eye patch.

Later in the day, she appeared on California Live, a show on NBC's Los Angeles affiliate, to explain further. Turns out, she had a dust-up (literally) on the set of The Voice, which resulted in something getting in her eye and irritating or damageing it to the point where she needed treatment and to keep it covered for a while. "Something got in there, maybe cut it, did something. It got infected," she explained, adding humourously, "It looked like Hitch."

She also revealed that, hilariously, her outfit that day only added to the awkward effect once she had a patch on. "When it first happened, it was so puffy and I was like, 'What am I supposed to do?' I had to shoot The Voice, a full day for, I think it was Battle Realities, in a patch and I was wearing all black 'cause it was already the outfit that was chosen and I looked like an assassin." Even better: the show's out of order taping schedule means that viewers will see her wearing the eye patch in seemingly random order. "I'm gonna randomly be wearing a patch, like on a random Tuesday and people are going to be like, 'She needs to figure out her eye situation.'" Fortunately, it's nothing too serious or long term, and she can joke about it now!

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