Sterling K. Brown brought Kelly Clarkson to the brink with one emotional truth

Sterling K. Brown left Kelly Clarkson visibly emotional on her talk show after revealing the powerful reason he stopped using his middle name.

On Monday, April 7, the 49-year-old actor appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show and shared that he used to go by his middle name, Kelby, but changed it to Sterling when he was a teenager.

Brown quipped, “So I went by my middle name — I went by Kelby until I was 16 years old. My dad's name is Sterling Brown Jr., my grandfather is Sterling Brown Sr., I'm Sterling Kelby Brown.”

The Black Panther star said he used the name Kelby because he “wanted my own name” and thought “Sterling was an old man's name.”

However, he changed his mind after his dad died, as he explained, “But because [my dad] passed away when I was 10, by the time I turned 16 and I hadn't heard his name for five, five-and-a-half years, I was like, I kinda just wanna hear that name again. So, I asked people to call me Sterling.”

After this revelation, when the camera showed Clarkson, her streamy eyes were clearly visible and she remarked, “That was so sweet and beautiful,” before looking away to calm herself.

Notably, Brown also looked away from the cameras and Clarkson to hide his emotions and said, “It’s all good.”