Relationships are hard – especially when you’re in the limelight being judged for everything you do.
Gwen Stefani is living a life she never imagined, one that mirrors her parents’.
“I’d see my mom gardening and my dad cutting trees, and I’d think, ‘I’m never having a tree at my house,’” she reminisces about her younger days.
But now, with husband Blake Shelton, she finds joy in the simple, rustic life near Tishomingo, Oklahoma, surrounded by sunflowers, zinnias, and even corn plots.
“I just had the most incredible dahlias ever,” Stefani, 53, shares with a glow, labeling herself a “garden flower nerd” after her PEOPLE cover shoot.
“When we get to Oklahoma, we’re constantly working—it’s a different kind of work, probably what my mom was doing back in the day, and now I get it!”
Stefani, who married Shelton in 2021, is still in awe of the unexpected, un-Hollywood twist her life has taken.
“I didn’t see any of this coming with Blake. It was an amazing gift to experience love like that for the first time,” she reflects on falling for the country superstar after meeting him in 2014 on the set of The Voice.
“He’s changed my life… when I [started dating] Blake, that’s when I felt home, like, ‘Oh, this is where I’m supposed to be, with this guy.”
Shelton, a loving stepdad, has introduced Stefani and her boys to a world far removed from the Hollywood spotlight, filled with adventure and the beauty of nature.
“I am not really a dirt person, a bug person, I don’t like that much humidity,” Stefani jokes about life in Oklahoma.
“But it’s so beautiful, and you kind of feel like you’re going into this vortex. Nature—and God—is all right there.”
This newfound peace has reignited her passion for music and creativity.
Stefani, who hustled through her 20s and 30s in the music industry, feels protective of her younger self.
“I took Kingston on a world tour [when he was 9 months old]. That’s when things got really hard for me emotionally,” she recalls.
She powered through those times with a goal to be there for her kids when they reached their teenage years.
Shelton’s decision to leave The Voice after 23 seasons was “a huge family choice,” Stefani reveals.
“I am happy for him because he has space to do all these other hobbies and things he wants to do.”
When offered a coach chair on the show, Stefani felt uncertain but eventually found joy in coaching the gifted participants.
Stefani is also channeling her experiences into new music and her makeup line GXVE, launched in March 2022.
“I’m never going to write anything that’s not just completely reflective of what’s going on in my life,” she declares.
She sees makeup as a means to help people of all ages feel confident and creative, especially those who have experienced hardships like her.
Despite her fulfilling life, Stefani admits that it can still feel “chaotic.”
“It’s literally schedule, schedule, schedule. [But] there is a balance,” she says.
“For me, the only way that I’ve gotten this far is with my spiritual faith and being able to take time out to pray. You see the miracles, and that’s inspiration and fuel to keep it going.”
Hear Gwen talk more about her relationship with Blake, along with family in the video below.
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