Kelly Clarkson has returned to host The Kelly Clarkson Show with its first episode since the death of her former husband Brandon Blackstock.

Almost eight weeks after Blackstock died at 48 following his fight with cancer, Clarkson opened her show on Monday with a Kellyoke performance of The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights.

"It's a perfect song to kick us off," she told the crowd, according to Rolling Stone.

"Light has been a constant theme for us on this show since the beginning. We've seen a lot in the past six years, and sometimes the world can be very heavy.

"But I've always said, my favourite part of doing this job, and I stand by it, is finding the light and shining it on people who are really trying to make a difference and just trying to make the world a better place."

Reports confirmed the episode had been filmed in front of a live audience several days earlier.

Clarkson welcomed Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell as her first celebrity guests and also spoke with bus drivers who had saved hundreds of children during the devastating floods in Texas in July.

News of Blackstock’s passing was shared on 7 August through a statement released by his company Starstruck Entertainment, which was co-founded by his father Narvel Blackstock.

"Brandon bravely battled cancer for more than three years," the statement read. "He passed away peacefully and was surrounded by family."