Gwen Stefani is reflecting on the ‘catastrophe’ of Gavin Rossdale’s divorce

Gwen Stefani explained how husband Blake Shelton changed her life after a series of ups and downs with ex Gavin Rossdale.

“Meeting my husband felt like a second chance at life, because when my family fell apart it was a catastrophe,” Stefani, 55, said. The Guardian in an interview published on Thursday, November 14. “How do you get out of there? But God put this other person there to love me.”

Although she did not mention him by name, Stefani referenced her former marriage to Rossdale, 59. The former couple was married for 12 years and had three children together: Kingston, 18, Zuma, 16, and Apollo, 10. In 2015, Stefani split and moved on to Shelton, 48. They married in July 2021.

“I know this sounds weird, but Blake and I got into horticulture together,” the singer shared The Guardian. “We have a house together in Oklahoma and during the pandemic we came across this very old building on the land and there were some purple irises that someone must have planted ages ago, but they survived. That’s what I wrote the song ‘Purple Irises’ about and what it feels like to find true love and the insecurities that come with not wanting to lose it.”

The song was recorded on Stefani’s latest album, Bouquetwhich was released on Friday, November 15. The record was inspired by the singer’s relationship, but she also drew from the yacht rock music she listened to growing up.

“I felt like in the songs I was going back to high school, trying to put on my prom dress and saying, ‘Here I am again!’ No, you can’t, you have to evolve,” she said. “I wanted the songs, sonically, to represent more of who I am today.”

Including Shelton’s vote for “Purple Irises” helped with that evolution.

“When he heard ‘Purple Irises’ he liked it so much that he ended up singing to it. I love singing with him,” she said of her husband. “He is very modest and doesn’t realize how good he is. There is something so attractive about that.”

When it comes to another collaboration in the future, Stefani said she would “love” to make an album with Shelton. “I never listened to country music, so even though Blake was super successful, I didn’t even know he existed before I met him,” she admitted.

In addition to sharing the good parts of her current relationship on the new record, Stefani also seemed to shade Rossdale with the “Someone Else” lyrics.

“I don’t know what a heart like mine was doing in love like that,” she sings in the first verse. “I don’t know what a woman like me was doing with a man like you / But now I have a love that’s so true.”