Quote from Oladosun Joshua Segun on June 18, 2025, 10:42 AM

Being the flavor of the month, each month is not possible.

As a result, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, who began dating in such a prominent way and appeared to be so quickly in love in 2015 that cynical doubters thought it was merely a show, toned it down.

Six years later, reader, they were married and led a happy life together. Not that the king and queen of this incredibly un-tragic realm had it so easy.

"There was a point where I was like, 'I can't even talk to you. This is insane. I already have enough problems. This is not happening anymore. We're not going to text or nothing,'" shortly after her marriage to Gavin Rossdale collapsed, Stefani revealed to People in November 2024 the surprising friendship she had with her fellow coach on The Voice.

In addition, Shelton and Miranda Lambert were going through a divorce.

"We had just met, and it was chaos,” and Stefani, 55, went on. “Both of our lives were in complete turmoil, all over the ground. Nothing could save us at that point."

This whole "do not talk" phase was brief, to put it mildly, and Stefani quickly came to the conclusion that meeting Shelton "felt like a second chance at life," last year when she stated to The Guardian.

As the mother of Rossdale's three kids clarified, "when my family fell apart, it was a catastrophe. How do you pick yourself up from that? But God put this other person there to love me."

However, Shelton and Stefani have both had to face some challenges along the way, and divine intervention can only go so far.

"I had been going through those times where you’re questioning: ‘Oh my gosh, am I just getting older? Am I cute?’” Stefani gave NYLON an explanation of the song's inspiration in February 2024. "Purple Irises." "In my own relationship, even though I know the truth of what’s happening today, you still create drama in your own mind about your insecurities and what might happen. I was in that phase of the relationship with Blake and getting paranoid.”

Added Shelton, "It’s an insecurity we both have. These are conversations that she and I have with each other: ‘Are you still going to love me when I’m old or if I forget who I am?’”

Thus, there is a reason "Purple Irises" is romantic and hopeful: "The truth is I am in love with my best friend," Stefani said, "and all this s--t I'm thinking of in my brain, that's all it is—I'm overthinking."

Speaking of thinking too much... Many stories about turmoil in paradise surfaced to fill the hole left by the couple's departure from The Voice. The couple splits their time between Los Angeles and his home state of Oklahoma.

"When you're in love and have truly aligned values, nobody can get to us," Stefani clarified. "You can say whatever you want to say about our relationship—I mean, a week ago we were getting divorced again or something. It's just lies. The truth is the truth, and we know what that is…"

In any case, they have come a long way since the days when people tracked their every action and recorded every look, and they have now retired into the status of "It-couple emeritus."

With the two attending NBC's Opry 100: A Live Celebration in March and recording performances for the 2025 American Music Awards in May, they have not exactly been hiding.

However, considering how well-known they were when they initially started dating in 2015, they resembled a couple of ecstatic teens in love.

Furthermore, the fact that their romance began so soon after Stefani's 13-year marriage to Rossdale ended and Shelton's four-year separation from Lambert made their degree of devotion all the more unexpected. However, they were so outrageous for a while that it nearly seemed contrived. The complaint was that they were a little too common after it was clear they were the actual thing.

Fans did not want them to split up because of a little oversaturation.

In order to remind fans that they did, in fact, still lead complete lives away from one another, Shelton's Doing It to Country Songs Tour occupied the first half of 2017 when they were not preoccupied with The Voice. Stefani then skipped the 13th season of the NBC competition.

They were also not in a hurry to get married, have children, or do anything else that was said to be a priority. The separation rumors then surfaced.

They were still going strong, according to fellow The Voice judge Adam Levine, who told Howard Stern in October 2017 that Shelton and Stefani were not just the real deal but were absolutely nauseating in private.

"They're so in love it's disgusting," Levine cracked. "It's so funny. They found each other at really interesting times in their lives. It's really beautiful."

"Because it's in the public eye, a lot of people want to have their own bulls--t opinions about it, but I'm, like, there," the singer of Maroon 5 acknowledged. "I see it every day. I have a pretty unique perspective on it, and it's real, man." Having stated that, "I'm so affectionate and gross with my wife—[but] this is a whole other level of…vomit."

A small amount of mystery was also able to emerge as a result of the (media) break—Where are they? How are they doing? Is everything all right? —until it was time to return to the public eye, with Shelton preparing for The Voice (which he left in 2023 after 23 seasons) and Stefani marketing her Christmas special.

In addition, Shelton was awarded People's Sexiest Man Alive in November 2018 and will celebrate his 49th birthday on June 18.

"I feel bad for her," Shelton made a joke about his ex-girlfriend Stefani on Ellen. "She has been in the spotlight as the symbol of beauty and now this...It's going to be humbling for her, but I think she's got a big enough heart that she can do it. Beauty comes from within."

Stefani enthusiastically endorsed People's decision, claiming that it was herself who persuaded him to accept the accolade.

"For me, it's just that big ol' heart and that sense of humor," In front of Ellen DeGeneres, she gushed. "He doesn't even take himself seriously and he's just such an incredible person. And that's sexy to me."

In addition, in addition, she disclosed. "How awesome is my life at the moment? Like, how attractive do I look like that?"

Stefani, meantime, was slowly adjusting to Shelton's more rustic comfort zone.

"You've turned into a proper farm girl now, you really have," When the singer made an appearance on the comedian's Netflix show in 2017, Chelsea Handler made fun of the frontwoman of No Doubt.

"My nature growing up was Orange County, the beach, that was our nature," the native of SoCal pondered. "That was it, you know. And that was beautiful, incredible. But to be able to experience middle of America and the gorgeous Oklahoma—it is very beautiful there...I actually wrote a Christmas song while I was there."

"What a coincidence," Handler cracked.

Stefani went on, "I love going there because I feel like it's so... I get to do nothing, and I never get that here in L.A." When asked if her initial visit to the Sooner State caused her to face cultural shock, she said, "Blake is a culture shock."

However, she enjoys the wonderful sense of escape that comes with being off the grid with him.