Blake Shelton is opening up about everything in a new interview with Billboard Magazine: his divorce, finding new love with Gwen Stefani, and the album he recorded through it all.
Shelton's latest album, If I'm Honest, is just that: an honest telling of the end of his marriage and his experience finding new love.
The new love, of course, is Gwen Stefani. The couple met on The Voice when Stefani joined the show in season seven, but they didn't connect until they started shooting season nine in 2015. Shelton told Billboard that the day he announced his split from Miranda Lambert to The Voice cast and crew, he noticed Stefani had tears in her eyes. Shelton didn't know at the time, but Stefani could relate—she and her husband Gavin Rossdale were also separating.
The co-stars found themselves in parallel situations, and soon they relied on each other as a support system. "That's kind of how our friendship and bond started," Shelton told Billboard about the beginning of their relationship. They first checked in on each other via email, but eventually they were texting daily. "Next thing I know, I wake up and she's all I care about, and I'm wondering if she feels the same about me," he said.
"Gwen saved my life," Shelton revealed. "Who else on earth could understand going through a high-profile divorce from another musician? You can't even imagine the similarities in our divorces."
Although musicians know that heart break is good for an album, Shelton believes that If I'm Honest is more than just a break up album. "You can learn some facts of my divorce," Shelton told the magazine. "Maybe not specifics, but you can get a general idea about it. It is my divorce record, but maybe even more than that, it's my happy, falling-in-love record too." There's evidence of that on the album: he and Stefani teamed up on a duet, "Go Ahead and Break My Heart."
And not only do they make beautiful music together, but they take particularly cute Instagram pics together.
Maggie Maloney is the Site Director of Oprah Daily. She previously worked at Town & Country, Elle DECOR, and Something Navy.
