Gwen Stefani finally opened up about the devastating divorce she and ex-husband Gavin Rossdale experienced as well as the uplifting revival her music career has enjoyed since then, the New York Times reported on Thursday .
For Gwen, the 46-year-old singer recalled the heartbreaking details surrounding the end of her marriage, especially how she felt at the end. “My life was literally blown up into my face,” Stefani recalled of the time, adding other thoughts crossed her mind during the harrowing time.
“I’m gonna die… I am dead, actually. How do I save myself? What am I going to do? How do I not go down like this?”
As to why Stefani decided to call it quits on the marriage, the singer declined to discuss any details of the reason. While tabloids everywhere have alleged Gavin Rossdale had an affair with the couple’s nanny for several years, Gwen only spoke in vague terms about the reason for the 13-year marriage to end to preserve the truth from her children, Kingston (9), Zuma (7), and Apollo (2).
“If I could, I would just tell you everything, and you would just be in shock. It’s a really good, juicy story.”
But out of the rubble and ashes of the failed marriage emerged a renewed Gwen. To cope with the situation, Stefani dove head-first into another love: songwriting. The results of her efforts have yielded her third solo studio album, a 12-track compilation known as This Is What The Truth Feels Like , according to Entertainment Weekly . The album was her first in more than decade.
Gwen Stefani rebounds from a breakup and rediscovers her first love: songwriting. https://t.co/RFEA6W6xth pic.twitter.com/28MCokF03v
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 10, 2016
The recording studio became a sanctuary for Gwen as she started the healing process needed to recover from her failed marriage. “Being in that room and being creative, it was the only place that felt good — I was like, I love the smell of this room,” Stefani told the newspaper.
Gwen poured her personal experience into writing songs for the album. Stefani wanted to capture a life history, heartache and all, into her new material. The results led some of the most personal songs Gwen had ever penned, including the lead single “Used To Love You” that Stefani took to No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100.
As time passed, so too did the emotions that Gwen was feeling. That’s mostly because Stefani and The Voice judge Blake Shelton (who were co-workers at the time) began to share their experiences about divorce. Shelton could empathize with Stefani as the country artist also recently split from his wife, fellow country singer Miranda Lambert.
The change in both her song’s tenor and lyrics immediately changed, Gwen recalled. Like her life over the past year, Stefani began to see her album evolve throughout the course of recording it.
“The record is happening in real time. I’ve never had a record that’s been about happiness, so that feels really good and different. And I’ve never had records come out while it’s going on.”
New rumors have swirled about Gwen and Blake recording material together over the past month as the two were spotted exiting a recording studio together, the Inquisitr reported. While those rumors could prove true, Stefani and Shelton could also have been in the recording studio as Gwen had agreed to serve as mentor for Blake on this season’s The Voice competition.
No one is more shocked about Gwen Stefani’s Blake Shelton romance than Gwen Stefani. https://t.co/n2kxvKM2Qo pic.twitter.com/kEDq5aXKZl
— E! News (@enews) March 11, 2016
Even with her new love interest, Gwen continues to rebuild herself following her divorce. Stefani admitted that she was okay with that, too.
“I’m not going to say I’m not still picking up the pieces and every day isn’t a challenge. I’m still in shock. But it’s an awesome time.”
What do you think about Gwen Stefani pouring her soul into her new album? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
[Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]