Kelly Clarkson, whose parents divorced when she was 6 years old, is tackling the sensitive topic with her new single and video, "Because of You."

"It's about the cycle of families, like you act how your parents acted towards you and then your kids act how you acted towards them, and it's all about breaking that cycle if it was a bad one," Clarkson said of both the song and video (see [article id="1506898"]"Kelly Clarkson Chooses Track Written With Ben Moody As Next Single"[/article]). "The video's kinda sad ... but it's a sad song, so the video obviously has to follow that. But it ends really happy and everything and the family, my family, ends up breaking the cycle of my parents."

Kelly wrote the video treatment herself and then let director Vadim Perelman (the writer/director behind "House of Sand and Fog"), in his video debut, add his own touches.

The clip opens with Clarkson fighting with her husband in front of their daughter. The scene suddenly pauses when Kelly sees another young girl, her younger self (played by the actress/daughter of one of Clarkson's bandmates), who takes her back in time to scenes of her own parents fighting. When Kelly returns to current time, she stops the fight and embraces her family.

Clarkson also performs in the video, singing into a mirror that reflects an image of her younger self. "I will not make the same mistakes that you did," she sings in the opening line. "I will not let myself/ 'Cause my heart has so much misery/ I will not break the way you did/ You fell so hard/ I've learned the hard way/ To never let it get that far."

"It's one of those songs that everybody's kind of gonna relate to, but you're not happy about that," Clarkson said. "It's very close to home [for me]. I OK'd it with my family and everything because they think it's important, because we're obviously very different now than we were when we were younger. And it's important for people to see that raw kind of emotion that happens in life. It sucks sometimes, so it's important to see that I think. And that's what we're portraying in the video."

Clarkson shot the video last month just before taking a well-deserved vacation (see [article id="1508202"]"When Did Kelly Clarkson Become So Hip?"[/article]). "I'm gonna be in Texas for a month and I'm excited," she said.

In December she will return to the road for a few weeks of dates along the West Coast.

Kelly Clarkson tour dates, according to RCA Records:

• 12/10 - Las Vegas, NV @ Aladdin Resort & Casino