Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert were once considered country music’s power couple. Married in 2011, they captivated fans with their chemistry on stage and their apparent bond behind the scenes.

However, after four years, they announced their split in July 2015, a shock to fans who had rooted for their love. Interestingly, only a month later, it was revealed that Gwen Stefani, Shelton’s fellow coach on NBC’s The Voice, was also ending her marriage to Gavin Rossdale. Both high-profile splits set the stage for an unexpected new chapter in Shelton’s life.

Shelton and Stefani’s relationship quickly became a hot topic. The two connected while filming The Voice, bonding over their shared experiences of recent heartbreak. Their relationship moved from a budding friendship to a romance that played out under the spotlight, with fans and media watching eagerly. Social media, red-carpet appearances, and award shows became stages for Shelton and Stefani to showcase their relationship. For fans, seeing these two popular stars—one a country music icon, the other a rock/pop queen—together was both surprising and thrilling.

However, with the excitement around Shelton and Stefani came renewed interest in their exes, Lambert and Rossdale. Lambert, who has no children with Shelton, didn’t have to remain connected to her ex after the divorce, unlike Stefani and Rossdale, who continue to co-parent their three children. Despite the differences in these situations, people still speculated about how Lambert felt regarding Shelton’s new romance with Stefani, especially given the speed at which the two appeared to grow close.

Reportedly, Lambert wasn’t entirely caught off guard by Shelton and Stefani’s relationship. According to a source who spoke with E! News, Lambert had suspected that Shelton and Stefani might end up together due to their flirty dynamic on The Voice. This insider claimed that Lambert and Shelton’s marriage had been rocky, with periods of tension, and noted that Shelton’s growing closeness with Stefani was always a possibility. Lambert herself has kept her response to her ex’s new romance mostly private, letting her music serve as her outlet.

In 2016, Lambert released her critically acclaimed double album, The Weight of These Wings. Though she was hesitant to discuss her personal life directly, Lambert allowed the songs to speak for her, opting to address her feelings subtly through music rather than media statements. In one interview with HITS Daily Double, Lambert shared that her first interview after the album’s release had immediately touched on Stefani. She felt it was invasive, stating, “I got on the phone for the first interview. First question was, ‘How do you feel about Gwen?’ I hung up…What was in the music was real, and I wanted people to get it from that.”

Though Lambert refrained from engaging in public drama, a 2019 tabloid story from The National Enquirer suggested there might still be tension between Lambert and Stefani. An alleged insider claimed Lambert had mocked Stefani’s appearance, attributing it to “the best doctors money could buy,” and suggested she was “built on a foundation of Botox and fillers.” However, these claims were never confirmed, and Stefani has publicly denied undergoing any cosmetic enhancements. Lambert herself was already in a new relationship with Brendan McLoughlin, a retired NYPD officer, whom she married in 2019, making it questionable why she would focus on her ex’s new partner.

Lambert’s marriage to McLoughlin appears to be thriving. The couple spent much of the pandemic together, with Lambert sharing that her husband’s love for cleaning came in handy during lockdown. McLoughlin even transitioned into Lambert’s security team, giving them more time to spend together while balancing her touring life. Lambert has expressed happiness and fulfillment in her marriage, frequently sharing glimpses of their life together on social media.

Ultimately, the stories of Shelton, Stefani, Lambert, and Rossdale highlight the complexities of relationships in the public eye. While Shelton and Stefani’s romance continues to make headlines, Lambert’s focus has turned to her own happiness with McLoughlin. With time, both couples have forged their own paths, creating distance from the drama of their pasts and building new lives in the spotlight.