No doubt, Gwen Stefani is now enjoying better days. The Voice mentor recently opened up about how difficult it was to balance her career and motherhood in the years leading up to her divorce from Gavin Rossdale.
As previously reported, Stefani, 46 — mom to sons Kingston, 9, Zuma, 7, and Apollo, 20 months — ended her 13-year marriage to the Bush frontman, 50, this past August, and has since rebounded with her Voice costar Blake Shelton.
“In the beginning, I didn’t want to think of myself as a mother. I was like, ‘Wait a minute! Ain’t no hollaback girl is who I am!’ I had to learn to accept it,” she said in the December 2015 issue of InStyle. “Being a mother and having a career — those are just different roles you play. You’re still the same person you were before, but now you’re more because you’re a mother, too, with a lot to do.”
Stefani admitted that coming up with new music proved to be “a lot of struggle.” The exes’ hectic schedules, especially back in 2012, also didn’t help the situation.
“I didn’t tour at all. But I did record the No Doubt album [Push and Shove], which was super hard. I was torn the whole time,” she explained. “Every day I would take the kids to school, drive to Santa Monica, work on the album, and then I’d think, ‘Oh my god, if I don’t leave by 2:30, I’m not gonna get home in time for dinner.’ And Gavin being on tour…”
Luckily, Stefani found her footing again with the support of Pharrell Williams and when she joined Season 7 of The Voice in 2014. “I was in a closed-off period before that — I couldn’t write, and I didn’t feel confident. There were hard times before the baby, personally, that were just not good. And then having Apollo, and being on the show, and being refreshed: It was just like, ‘Whoa!'” she said. “I’m in a really positive place now.”
Country superstar Shelton, 39, may have something to do with her new upbeat attitude, too. Us Weekly exclusively broke the news on Wednesday, Nov. 4, that the fellow judges are now an item. (Shelton and Miranda Lambert announced they were divorcing after four years of marriage over the summer, with Stefani and Rossdale confirming their split two weeks later.)
“Gwen and Blake are longtime friends who have very recently started dating,” her rep told Us in a statement at the time. Hours later, the lovebirds were photographed holding hands while attending the Warner Music Group CMA afterparty in Nashville.