Kelly Clarkson Stuns Garth Brooks With ‘The Dance’ at Kennedy Center Honors

Garth Brooks is known for showing his emotions, and he struggled to hold them back while watching Kelly Clarkson sing his hit song "The Dance" at the Kennedy Center Honors.

A clip of the performance shared by Entertainment Tonight finds Brooks with eyes closed, hand over his mouth as the country/pop star and television show host sings. "And then the whole band kicks in. It's just so pretty," he said. "That woman is a true friend to a song. She's amazing."

Fans can watch the performance on Sunday (June 6) during the CBS broadcast of a performance taped on May 20.

Brooks was one of five 2021 Kennedy Center Honorees, joining Debbie Allen, Midori Goto, Joan Baez and Dick Van Dyke. Clarkson is on a list of performers that includes Gladys Knight and Emmylou Harris. Gloria Estefan hosted the event.

The performance has some personal meaning for Clarkson, host of The Kelly Clarkson show and a coach on NBC's The Voice. During an interview with Brooks last December, she shared that "The Dance" has helped her get through emotions associated with her divorce. She says she even wrote a song for her next album inspired by the 1990 hit.

"I literally wrote this whole thing therapeutically for me," she says, "and it's actually on my next album ... like the little tag part is (singing) 'Even though my heart is broken / It was worth the dance anyways."

Clarkson is good friends with Brooks' wife, Trisha Yearwood. In fact, she tells ET that the two were texting before the show, but that didn't help with her nerves.

"Then I go on stage and I saw them and like all of a sudden I am the sweatiest human on planet earth," Clarkson says.