She wanted to have a happy family, that was her dream. But her dream was broken by the very person she wanted to share it with.
Dreaming of having a family with someone is a significant and undeniable sign of our love for them. But when you realize that the love you received did not have the same level of commitment yours, it can cause loss of faith in the institution of marriage. Gwen Stefani went through a phase of utter disbelief and confusion when she sensed that something was off in her relationship that had lasted over a decade. When she learned that her husband was cheating on her, she couldn't keep her calm and felt tortured by the betrayal.
The Baby Don't Lie singer met Bush's lead singer, Gavin Rossdale when she was just 26 years old and felt an instant attraction. "When I met him and looked up at him, I was like, 'Whoa.' It was different," she recalled of the moment. "I was in quite a rebellious place because I was feeling really rejected...Somehow he got my phone number, and that was that. He stalked me, I think," ENews quoted Stefani.
They dated for seven long years before tying the knot in 2002. They went on to become parents of three lovely kids and Stefani thought that her dream of happily ever after with a loving family is finally coming true. Until one day, when everything changed.
Rumors of Rossdale's affair with their kids' nanny Mindy Mann started doing rounds within the industry and outside, in 2015. According to ENews, rumors that Rossdale left Stefani alone at the hospital when she was giving birth to their youngest child also came out. While they did not confirm any of it, the couple filed for divorce after spending 13 years together.
The singer later spoke about her troubled marriage. "Nobody except for my parents, the people involved, and whoever they told. Nobody would believe it if I could really say what happened," reported Billboard.
"It was the beginning of hell. Like six, seven, eight months of torture, trying to figure out this big secret," Stefani said of the period when Rossdale was cheating on her, while she was confused, unsure of what to believe.
"My dreams were shattered. All I wanted my whole life was to have babies, be married, like what my parents have," she said, according to PEOPLE. She continued, "It was so insane because not only did my family break up, but then my kids are taken away like half the time, so that was really like, 'What?! What did I do?'"
She was taken aback by the incident, so much so, that she started feeling sorry for herself and her life. “Of course you go through the ‘Why me?’ and feel sorry for yourself. But then I was like, ‘No, this happened to me already and I made something good out of it,’ and that was Tragic Kingdom,” recalled the singer.
While struggling to comprehend the feeling of betrayal, the mother-of-three was also worried about how it would impact her kids. "As a famous person, you start to think, ‘I can’t say all that because I’ll embarrass them or hurt them in some way.’ And especially now because they can see everything and hear everything,” said Stefani. However, she was lucky enough to get a second chance at love and she started healing.
Gwen Stefani met Blake Shelton in the sets of The Voice season 17 and their lives took a sweet turn. The singers, both of whom were heartbroken in the past took comfort in each other. "It was like being handed this gift of a friend who was going through the exact same thing at the exact same time," said Stefani, according to Marie Claire. The couple soon began dating and the singer couldn't have been happier. “Like, we’re just having the time of our lives, and we never expected that this late in our lives, so we’re just trying to savor every moment together, and just to be back on The Voice as well, not to change the subject, but working together again has been really fun, and I love being here and I love being with him,” PEOPLE quoted the singer.
References:
https://people.com/country/blake-shelton-jerk-before-dating-gwen-stefani/
https://people.com/celebrity/gwen-stefani-divorce-from-gavin-rossdale-quotes/
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7461699/gwen-stefani-broken-marriage-torture
https://www.marieclaire.com.au/gwen-stefani-speaks-out-about-going-through-hell-in-her-marriage
https://www.eonline.com/fr/news/715112/gwen-stefani-and-gavin-rossdale-s-alleged-cheating-scandal-everything-we-know
https://www.eonline.com/news/781412/gwen-stefani-tears-up-while-recalling-her-history-of-heartbreak-why-did-i-get-so-unlucky-in-love
Cover image source: Getty Images | Photos by (L) Angela Weiss / Stringer, (R) Kevin Winter / Staff
