Blake Shelton Shares Why He Never Imagined Gwen Stefani Would Be His “Missing Piece” When He First Met Her

Blake Shelton met the love of his life, Gwen Stefani, 10 years ago, and it wasn’t exactly love at first sight.

Today, Blake and Gwen are the gold standard of couple goals. After dating for six years, they said “I do” inside a chapel built on Blake’s ranch in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, in 2021. Blake became a stepfather to her three sons that day, and the family is now a tight-knit group that loves to spend their time living the country life.

But when the pair first laid eyes on each other, there weren’t instant sparks. As Blake shared with ET, he met Gwen while they were working on The Voice in 2014. She was pregnant with her youngest son, Apollo, and married to Gavin Rossdale at the time. He was married to fellow county singer, Miranda Lambert.

While Blake and Gwen worked side-by-side, they rarely spoke to each other that first year. And Blake didn’t think they had enough in common to become more than professional acquaintances.

“You would see her out at the red chairs if there was a production meeting or whatever and I feel like I got to know Pharrell [Williams] more that year than I did Gwen,” he continued. “It wasn’t until the season she came back, the next one, that the pieces were falling together.” 

When filming kicked back in the following year, life looked much different for Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani. Both singers were having behind-the-scenes marital troubles, which led to divorce. Blake and Miranda finalized their divorce that July. Gwen and Gavin filed the following month. That November, Gwen announced her budding romance with her now-husband.

At the beginning of their relationship, Gwen and Blake had many critics. People believed they were simply rebounds and far too different to last. While they clearly proved the naysayers wrong, Blake can’t blame them for having doubts. Because back in 2014, he would have said the same things.

“If you would’ve told me the first season that we met that — what was gonna happen, I would’ve been like, ‘No, we actually don’t even have anything to even talk about, you know?” he shared. “What are you talking about?’ … It’s crazy how things work out.” 

This story’s featured image is by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for TNT.