Did something she saw on a shared device cause Gwen Stefani to have a little doubt about her marriage to fellow rocker Gavin Rossdale? According to E! News, the singer divorced her then-husband, the frontman of the grunge band Bush, after she discovered evidence of Rossdale's affair with one of the couple's nannies on the family iPad used by the pair's three sons.
The revelation about Rossdale's cheating marked the end of nearly 13 years of marriage and sparked many, many tabloid stories about the acrimonious split. Read on to learn how '90s icons Stefani and Rossdale met and what happened after she made her discovery.
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Stefani and Rossdale were married in 2002.
Stefani, the lead singer and co-founder of the rock band No Doubt, first met Rossdale in 1995 when their two bands performed at the same show. They went on to date, largely long-distance as Rossdale lived in London and No Doubt was a California band, for several years until he proposed in January of 2002. They were married nine months later on Sep. 14, 2002, at St Paul's in Covent Garden, with a second ceremony to follow two weeks later in Los Angeles.
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The couple welcomed three children.
While they were together, Rossdale and Stefani welcomed three children, all boys. First came Kingston James McGregor Rossdale in 2006, followed by Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale in 2008, and finally Apollo Bowie Flynn Rossdale a few years later, in 2014. (Rossdale also has another child, as in 2004 a paternity test confirmed that he's the father of English fashion designer Pearl Lowe's daughter, Daisy Lowe, who was born in 1989.)
The couple raised their family mostly in Los Angeles. At the time of the split they owned a seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom house in Beverly Hills.
Stefani discovered illicit messages on their sons' iPad.
In August of 2015, Stefani filed for divorce from Rossdale, citing "irreconcilable differences," but announcing that they'd continue to co-parent their three sons. (Rossdale filed soon after.) The news came as a surprise to outside observers, but a source told E! News that Stefani had suspicions about Rossdale's fidelity that were confirmed the day after she attended the 2015 Grammy Awards solo. Rossdale had reportedly been having an affair with one of their nannies, Mindy Mann, for several years.
"One of the other nannies went to get the iPad for one of the boys and found texts and photos that Mindy had sent to Gavin," the source told E! News. "Gavin's texts were linked to the iPad and could be seen. They talked about meeting up to have sex and she sent naked photos."
"The nanny told Gwen everything," the E! News source continued. "She immediately confronted Gavin and he tried to deny everything once again. He had a story that he was just flirting but this time Gwen and seen it with her own eyes and didn't believe it. She couldn't get past it and was devastated this was going on right under her nose. She asked Gavin to leave and knew the marriage was over."
Neither Stefani, Rossdale, nor Mann have publicly commented on the rumors or confirmed that an affair took place. In a 2016 interview with People, however, Stefani did characterize their split as "terrible."
The divorce was finalized on April 8, 2016. At the time, Stefani was 46 and Rossdale was 50.
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Stefani moved on with another musician.
Stefani had gotten to know Blake Shelton during their tenure on the singing competition series The Voice. The country singer, who was in the midst of his own divorce from Miranda Lambert in 2015, bonded with the ska icon that summer.
"Gwen saved my life," Shelton told Billboard. "Who else on earth could understand going through a high-profile divorce from another musician? You can't even imagine the similarities in our divorces."
News of Stefani and Shelton's relationship broke in November 2015, after divorce proceedings with Rossdale had begun but before they were finalized. The new couple announced their engagement a few years later, on Oct. 27, 2020, and were married on July 3, 2021, at a chapel on Shelton's Oklahoma ranch.
Rossdale, for his part, is currently single, having dated model Natalie Golba and actor Courtlyn Cannan following his divorce, though neither relationship lasted long. He and Stefani co-parent their three sons but reportedly do not have much of a relationship beyond the logistics of shared childcare. He was not invited to Stefani and Shelton's wedding.
James Grebey James has been an entertainment journalist for more than a decade, writing and editing for outlets like Vulture, Inverse, Polygon, TIME, The Daily Beast, SPIN Magazine, Fatherly, and more.Read moreFiled UnderCelebrities • Cheating • Entertainment • MusicRead This NextGwen Stefani Shares Blake Shelton Update
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