Love means never having to say you’re sorry. Fame, not so much. Kelly Clarkson has learned the hard way that being refreshingly candid can sometimes require the online equivalent of sending a muffin basket — saying sorry on your official website. Kelly has apologized for her “supposed feud” with legendary record executive Clive Davis in a post this week (read the full statement here):

“Contrary to recent characterizations in the press, I'm well aware that Clive is one of the great record men of all time. He has been a key advisor and has been an important force in my success to date. He has also given me respect by releasing my new album when he was not obligated to do so. I really regret how this has turned out and I apologize to those whom I have done disservice. I would never intentionally hurt anyone.”

For the past few months, Kelly has talked repeatedly to the press about her struggle for artistic freedom under her label RCA and conflicts with its honcho, Davis. Particularly at issue has been Kelly’s decision to write her own songs on her latest album, My December, which came out a month ago.

The lead-up to its release was filled with the kind of backroom drama that usually stays in back rooms, if not for the unvarnished comments by one sassy Texan. (To recap: Davis didn’t like the album, worried it was too dark and without hits, wanted her to work with professional songwriters and pushed the release date back.)

As Kelly told USA Weekend in a story that ran July 15:

“I'm going to be real honest with you: I am not a fan (of Davis). I do respect him, but I don't want to barbecue with him. We don't braid each other's hair. And, despite the rumors, he is nowhere near a father figure.”

And then in the August cover story for Blender magazine, she recounted a meeting the two had:

“I was like, ‘I don’t know you very well, and I am not a bull-------. I get you don’t like the album. You’re 80; you’re not supposed to like my album…Then he kept bringing up people he’s worked with. ‘You’re a Whitney! You’re a Mariah!’ ‘First of all, Mariah writes a lot of her stuff. Secondly, I don’t want a career like either one of those singers. That’s why it’s hard for us to make an album: You don’t know me! You don’t know what I like, and you don’t know what my fans like.’”

According to Entertainment Weekly, Kelly’s most frank comments about Davis (including the two above) came before she fired her previous manager, Jeff Kwatinetz. They parted shortly after My December came out and shortly after that she stopped talking about the RCA chief. But as luck would have it, the slew of interviews she did before the album’s release are still trickling out. So to the casual observer, it might look like she can’t stop harping on the fella.

While Davis has not publicly responded to Kelly’s remarks, his silence in some ways speaks volumes. At the American Idol finale earlier this year, he praised Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee, but made no mention of Kelly or her then-upcoming album. Instead he went on to laud professional songwriters. Come on, that just means Clive is better at being passive aggressive than Kelly.

So, what can we make of Kelly’s mea culpa? Would a similarly outspoken male artist apologize for talking freely to the press? Would any of this be an issue if My December were selling better? (The album’s numbers are solid, but it’s being handily outpaced by Hannah Montana, among others.)

In the end, I have to agree with EW that the biggest losers from this whole controversy will be us, the fans. Kelly will no doubt rebound. Davis is already a legend. And we can look forward to a more guarded, less open star to emerge from the controversy. Which would be a terrible pity. Because so far — for better or worse — every time Kelly has opened her mouth, I’ve been only too happy to listen.