As the history of Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale's relationship shows, there were countless troubles
and red flags throughout their romance. Here are the things you forgot happened during
the powerhouse rock star couple's steamy relationship.
To understand the couple's history, we have to start at the end. In 2015, tabloids found
themselves asking, "Why did Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale break up?" Gossip detectives
everywhere with "insider" rumblings subsequently pointed a communal finger in one stereotypical
direction: The nanny did it. The divorce of music's coolest and seemingly most enduring
couple was reportedly due to Stefani suspecting that Rossdale was having an affair with the
family's longtime nanny.
Us Weekly went deeper with their speculation by reporting that Rossdale's relationship
with the woman had spanned three long years. An insider told the magazine that Stefani
had allegedly found steamy texts between the two as well as, quote, "nude photos" of the
nanny on the family's iPad, which was linked to Gavin's phone. One of the other nannies
discovered the exchange as well and told Gwen. Rossdale is alleged to have initially dismissed
the accusation before confessing to the affair "months later." Understandably, Stefani kicked
him to the curb.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, The Voice coach and current spouse of Blake Shelton appeared to
confirm the rumors by responding to a question about Rossdale's alleged affair, stating:
"[I] went through a real period of anger [following it]."
Sadly, their relationship was scattered with foreshadowing as to Rossdale's alleged salacious
behavior — and by all accounts, Stefani was well aware of it, too.
"It's still super hard to like, have your family break up. What do you do after that?"
The "Used to Love You" singer would be the first to suggest that there were potential
problems in her relationship with Gavin Rossdale from the get-go.
"I didn't have a choice. I just thought I kind of fell for him."
In a 2000 interview with Nylon, the No Doubt frontwoman reflected on meeting the sexy Bush
frontman for the first time in 1995. During the discussion, she admitted that she immediately
saw the potential issues that could arise. Stefani told the outlet:
"I was like, 'Why am I going to go out with you? You're in a band. You live in another
country, and you are too cute.' Everything about that just says, 'wrong, hurt, bad idea.'
But I couldn't help myself."
Following their divorce amid rumors of Rossdale's infidelity, Stefani suggested that upon reflection,
the clues about their future "situation" were always evident. The "Rock Steady" pop star
told People that listening to old tunes she'd written about Rossdale made her, quote, "get
sick." She explained,
"You look at the songs and go, 'That was a red flag. That was a moment where I was feeling
just as bad as I feel today, and why did I keep it up?’"
As the Nylon interview with Stefani touched upon, she and Rossdale had an unstable "on-again"
and "off-again" relationship during the beginning of their romance. And there were a few key
factors that contributed to that.
First and foremost, on top of them both being successful touring musicians when they met,
Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale were based at opposite ends of the world in the early
years of their relationship. While Rossdale was located in his hometown of London, England,
Stefani was very much an L.A. girl — and by all accounts, neither seemed willing to
compromise one for the other. Stefani once told Us Weekly:
"It's one of my big problems. I am supposed to live in London, but I don't really want
to. It's only because I love my family so much, and I want to be around them."
The problem was so persistent that it apparently inspired a lot of No Doubt's 2001 album Rock
Steady. Stefani told Rolling Stone:
"[Rock Steady] is about how hard it is having a relationship that's not only long-distance
but also between two people in different touring rock bands."
The topic is probably most evident in the song "Making Out," in which the singer pours
her heart into lyrics that measure the amount she misses her partner. It further explores
how romantic gestures, like flowers or notes, quote, "just ain't good enough."
Released in 2000, Return of Saturn is a sonic shock of an album that pounds with fury, anxiety,
and heartache. According to The Guardian, at the time of the album's release, Gwen Stefani
supposedly confessed to feeling, quote, "insecure and jealous and paranoid." She later denied
this, even though it can be heard all over the album, which explores the idea of fighting
for a lover who may not be fighting for you.
As Bustle pointed out, the album is blatantly full of songs about Gavin Rossdale. Break-up
opening track "Ex-Girlfriend," for instance, references the Bush lyric, "I'll burn before
I mellow" from the song "Dead Meat," with Stefani biting back:
"You say you're gonna burn before you mellow. I will be the one to burn you."
"Home Now" poses big questions of the couple's long-suffering long-distance relationship,
with the singer asking,
"So, what you giving up for me? And what shall I give up for you?"
The album's allusions to Stefani's troubled romance with Rossdale were obvious, and by
all accounts not a secret. While discussing her inspirations for the album with NME, the
singer suggested that her relationship had taken, quote, "a difficult route" due to being
in a band. Stefani told the outlet:
"So I write about it. I don't know what else to write about."
Things may have been hard during the long-distance and cheating rumors phase, but that was only
the beginning. In 2004, Gavin Rossdale discovered he had a 15-year-old lovechild with singer
and designer Pearl Lowe. People reported that according to her friends, Gwen Stefani was,
quote, "devastated" by the news.
The revelation apparently came as a shock to everyone. Rossdale agreed to take a DNA
test after Pearl began to suspect her daughter — the model Daisy Lowe — was fathered
by him. The two supposedly enjoyed a, quote, "very brief fling way back when." Though he's
since stepped up into a fatherly role and maintained a good relationship with Daisy,
the Bush frontman and secret baby daddy was reportedly not too happy with the discovery.
Pearl told Easy Living magazine,
"Gavin told me if Daisy, then 14, had a DNA test, he'd never speak to me again and he's
kept his word."
It must have been difficult for the then-childless Stefani, who once sang in her song "Simple
King of Life,"
"I always thought I'd be a mom. Sometimes I wish for a mistake."
"I want to have children for sure."
But more bombshell secrets were awaiting the couple. From stage left entered British singer
Marilyn with allegations that prior to Gwen Stefani, he'd once had a five-year relationship
with . The performer made the claim in a 2009 newsletter to fans where he described Rossdale
as, quote, "the love of my life."
Marilyn's friend Boy George had previously written about the relationship in his 1995
autobiography, with Rossdale initially denying the claims. He told Rolling Stone he, quote,
"wasn't dating Marilyn" but that the two remain good friends. Fast-forward to 2010, and Rossdale
was furiously backtracking during an interview with Details where he confirmed the romance
did indeed happen. Asked if it was a one-time occasion, Rossdale replied, quote, "Yeah.
That was it." He also explained that:
“It's just one of those things: Move on. When you're 17, Jesus Christ. I don't think
there's anything strange about any form of — you're learning about life. It's a part
of growing up. That's it. No more, no less”
Regardless, the Bush frontman reportedly "pleaded" with the magazine's editors not to publish
his admission, as Stefani allegedly didn't know about his past romance with Marilyn.
Throwing a final shovel of dirt on the situation, Marilyn later claimed to Radar that Rossdale
called him to rant about how his divorce from Stefani was his former lover's fault. Marilyn
told Radar:
"Because I did an interview about the affair [...] and everything from then on is all my
fault."
The messy romantic pile-up continued for the couple with the addition of one of music's
most polarizing figures: Courtney Love. Love claimed that Gavin Rossdale had once cheated
on Gwen Stefani with her. Never one to shy away from a ruckus, she made the claim while
on The Howard Stern Show in 2010 and suggested the fling lasted for eight months.
When asked by Stern whether Love was sleeping with Rossdale while he was with Stefani, Love
made the shocking claim:
"Yes, she does know."
The couple immediately went into recovery mode and released a statement via Rossdale's
Facebook account, which reassured fans,
"All is well with the Rossdale family [...] anything that may have occurred prior to their marriage
has no impact on their current situation."
The longstanding feud between Stefani and Love has been well documented, and it shows
no signs of ending anytime soon. In 2013, Love suggested that the Bush frontman was
controlling his wife's career, telling ABC News,
"He runs the Gwen show, that's him. He runs the clothing line [...] he has nothing else
to do."
Was the romance always doomed?
Gwen Stefani had always been open about her relationship with Gavin Rossdale being a difficult
one. She once told Marie Claire that the survival of her marriage was a, quote, "miracle" based
on the constant problems they'd faced. She also confessed to Rolling Stone how she was
"always questioning" whether Rossdale was The One. The course of true love never did
run smooth for these two lovebirds.
Divorce rumors first started swirling in 2012 when Star Magazine claimed the split was,
quote, "inevitable" for the couple. Later that year Just Jared reported that they were
spotted leaving couple's therapy together. As was always the case with the pair, on the
outside they seemed solid and happy, but underneath it all was a darker truth. Were the two always
crumbling beneath the façade?
Stefani once claimed to Elle that she always wore makeup for Rossdale. This fact takes
on a grim subtext when paired with lyrics to the No Doubt track, "Magic's in the Makeup,"
where Stefani sings about using makeup to, quote, "camouflage [her] nature." Indeed,
by all accounts, Stefani and Rossdale seemed to camouflage these problems for as long as
possible. But there's only so much damage that can be hidden by the makeup of a bad
romance. By the end, there was no disguising it — they were done.
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