Why Gwen Stefani Almost Called Off Blake Shelton Romance in Early Days

Gwen Stefani—who married husband Blake Shelton in 2021 after meeting on the set of The Voice in 2015—recently revealed the boot scootin’ duo were almost not an item.

Gwen Stefani says, meeting husband Blake Shelton gave her a second chance

Watch: Gwen Stefani Credits Blake Shelton with Giving Her “Second Chance at Life”

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton‘s love story almost had a sweet escape.

The couple—who wed in 2021 after meeting in 2015 as coaches on The Voice—may be inseparable now, but the “Hollaback Girl” singer recently revealed she was on the verge of making herself just a girl to the “Ol’ Red” crooner.

“There was a point where I was like, ‘I can’t even talk to you,’” Gwen told People in an interview published Nov. 25. “‘This is insane. I already have enough problems. This is not happening anymore. We’re not going to text or nothing.'”

And the No Doubt frontwoman noted that both her and Blake’s divorces at the time—from Gavin Rossdale and Miranda Lambert, respectively—made 2015 a difficult starting point for the pair.

“We had just met, and it was chaos,” she added. “Both of our lives were in complete turmoil, all over the ground. Nothing could save us at that point.

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See Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani’s Winning NFL Outing With Kids Zuma and Apollo

But despite her initial hesitations, Gwen—who shares sons Kingston, 18, Zuma, 16, and Apollo, 10, with Gavin—explained that songwriting is what helped Blake persevere.

“I think he really wanted to impress me,” she continued, “because he doesn’t really write songs as much as he used to. And I love writing songs. That’s everything to me. That’s where I get my fulfillment.”

So, Blake reached out to Gwen for help on “Go Ahead and Break My Heart,” a country duet they eventually released in 2016.

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“He sent it to me, and it was a half-written song,” she said. “He was like, ‘Help me finish this.’ So I wrote him the verse back—the second verse on the song—and it’s just over text. That was our first song that we ever wrote together. We were never even in the same room, but we were writing a song to each other.”

And for Gwen, she saw Blake as more than just a songwriting partner—she saw an answered prayer.

“Something that I wanted since I was a little girl,” she shared, “is to be married and have this love that I saw my parents have and have babies. That dream was completely ruined. It was crushed, and I had to figure out how I was going to move forward and make a new dream.”

“God putting Blake in my life,” she added, “was just that miracle.”

Read on for more of the sweet words Gwen and Blake have said about their relationship.

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Let the Rumors Begin

“I think he’s hot, don’t you? But to be super honest, it is kind of crazy we both went through the same thing at the same time. There’s been so many people that I’ve gotten so much comfort from. Just people coming to me and telling me their story. Not confiding, but sharing, which has just helped me see things from a different perspective and move forward.” —Gwen to Ryan Seacrest in November 2015

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Look of Love

“How can I not be [in love]? She is the greatest. She is the greatest.” —Blake on Today in March 2018.

Photo By Jeff Kravitz/ACMA2019/FilmMagic for ACM

“Saved My Life”

“When you have a broken heart—at least, when I do—you got to get it out of your system. You want people to sympathize with you. I was at rock bottom, in the middle of hell…Gwen saved my life. Who else on earth could understand going through a high-profile divorce from another musician?” —Blake to Billboard in July 2016