Gwen Stefani Worried People Would See Her as a ‘Failure’ After Divorce

In 2016, Gwen Stefani finalized her divorce from Bush guitarist Gavin Rossdale. Rumors of infidelity plagued the couple, and Stefani would go on to have the marriage annulled. Stefani has since moved on to a happy relationship with Blake Shelton. When her marriage was first ending, though, she said she felt an overwhelming sense of embarrassment. She worried people would view her as a failure. 

Gwen Stefani worried about the way the public would view her after her divorce

When Stefani married Rossdale in 2002, she expected it to last for the rest of her life. In 2015, however, they separated after allegations of infidelity on his part. Stefani said she felt devastated, but also embarrassed by the end of her marriage.

“I don’t think you’ll talk to one person who didn’t make it in a marriage who’s not gonna feel that way,” she told Glamour. “The intention of being married is the vow, right? You want to put everything into it to make it a success. And all I had to look at was the huge success of my parents: They just had their fiftieth anniversary. I had to work really hard at marriage, all the time, like everybody, but ours was extra hard, when you add that we’re from different countries, both of us being in music, and celebrity.”

Perhaps because of the longevity of her parents’ marriage, she viewed divorce as a failure. She said it stung that other people might think the same thing,

“[Marriage] was the one thing I didn’t want to fail at,” she said. “People can say whatever they want to about me…and I don’t get too affected. But I didn’t want them to think I was a failure. There’s nothing weird about how I felt.”

Ultimately, she said music and her budding relationship with Shelton helped her with these feelings.