Gwen Stefani Says Her Dreams Were "Shattered" When She and Gavin Rossdale Split

Updated on 7/9/2016 at 7:00 PM

Gwen Stefani sizzles on the cover of Harper's Bazaar's August issue, and in her accompanying interview, the "Make Me Like You" singer gets candid about her divorce from Gavin Rossdale (and how it has affected the couple's three sons), her newfound love Blake Shelton, and the breakup that led to No Doubt's hit song "Don't Speak." Find out why Gwen tries not too be too much of an open book as you keep reading.

On her divorce from Gavin Rossdale: "It was so insane because not only did my family break up, but then my kids are taken away like half the time, so that was really like, 'What?! What did I do?' My dreams were shattered. All I wanted my whole life was to have babies, be married, like what my parents have. Then I remember thinking, 'There's gotta be a reason for this.' Of course you go through the 'Why me?' and feel sorry for yourself. But then I was like, 'No, this happened to me already and I made something good out of it,' and that was Tragic Kingdom."
On bonding with boyfriend Blake Shelton: "[Backstage on The Voice] Blake was like, 'Everybody, before we go out there, I want to let everyone know that by the time this airs, I will be divorced.' It was like being handed this gift of a friend who was going through the exact same thing at the exact same time. And then everything flipped. It went from horrible to, like, hopeful and like, 'Wow, God, you just don't know what's gonna happen next.'"

On why she's careful about being such an open book: "It's because I have children [Kingston, 10, Zuma, 7, and Apollo, 2]. As a famous person, you start to think, 'I can't say all that because I'll embarrass them or hurt them in some way.' And especially now because they can see everything and hear everything. But I've done nothing I'm ashamed of . . . [breaks into laughter] Well, we all have a few things we're ashamed of."
On forming No Doubt and writing "Don't Speak": "We never meant to make it. Like, we just wanted to play shows, you know? And then I fall in love with this 16-year-old guy, Tony [Kanal], who ends up being our bass player, and we do everything together . . . and then he breaks up with me. I was like, 'What am I doing? This is like, seven years of my life.' Then the next chapter: I meet Gavin, right? And that was it. [My personal life] was my boyfriend and then my husband."