Gwen Stefani Opens Up About Divorce: ‘My Dreams Were Shattered’

Gwen Stefani has opened up about her divorce from Gavin Rossdale, admitting that her “dreams were shattered” when their relationship ended.

Last year, the Grammy award-winning artist filed for divorce from her husband after 13 years of marriage amid speculation that he had been unfaithful with their children’s nanny.

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In the aftermath of their separation, Gwen revealed how her life took an unexpected turn.

She told Harper’s Bazaar magazine: “My dreams were shattered. All I wanted my whole life was to have babies, be married, like what my parents have.”

The couple – who have three sons together; Kingston, 10, Zuma, seven, and two-year-old Apollo – initially decided to keep their break-up a secret, but reportedly went through “hell” in the months that followed.

Copyright [Alexi Lubomirski/Harper’s Bazaar]

“Everybody knows what happened next. It was the beginning of hell. Like six, seven, eight months of torture, trying to figure out this big secret,” the No Doubt frontwoman explained.

As if their split wasn’t hard enough, Gwen also found it incredibly difficulty to have to share joint custody of their boys.

“It was so insane because not only did my family break up, but then my kids are taken away like half the time,” she recounted. “So that was really like, ‘What?! What did I do?’”

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After getting past what she calls the “why me?” phase, the singer found strength in her music and work, but soon discovered that fellow Voice coach Blake Shelton was going through his own difficult divorce.

The country singer announced that he had split from his wife Miranda Lambert in July last year – news that Gwen described as a “gift” as she now had someone to bond with over their turbulent personal lives.

She recalled: “There I was with my big secret, right? And that’s when Blake was like: ‘Everybody, before we go out there, I want to let everyone know that by the time this airs, I will be divorced.’”

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“[I felt] exposed somehow, you know? But it was like being handed this gift of a friend who was going through the exact same thing at the exact same time.”

Unexpectedly, Gwen and Blake went on to find love with one another, giving the mother of three a new positive outlook on the future.

“And then it was just like everything flipped. It went from horrible to, like, hopeful and, like, 'Wow, God, you just don’t know what’s gonna happen next…’” she concluded.