BY EMILY HUTCHINSON

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton shocked fans when they began dating in 2015 after meeting on The Voice—especially since both were still married at the time. The couple quickly became a symbol of how opposites can attract, frequently expressing their love and reflecting on how they bonded. As Shelton told Billboard in 2016, “Gwen saved my life,” noting that no one else could understand going through a high-profile divorce from another musician like she could.

Years later, Stefani shared on The Voice (2023, via Taste of Country) that when she first joined the show, both of their personal lives were “in parallel destruction,” and before long, they became close friends and fell in love. But while their love story may appear heartwarming on the surface, it’s hard to overlook the many red flags woven throughout their relationship.

Both were fresh out of marriages when they started dating

Journalist Emily Hutchinson writes, “Of course, there isn’t a universal timeline for when you should get back into dating after a divorce, but a couple of months isn’t much time to recover from the heartbreak of a broken marriage — particularly for Stefani, who was married longer and shared three children with her ex. The No Doubt singer got candid about how devastating her split from Rossdale was, telling The Guardian, “When my family fell apart, it was a catastrophe. How do you pick yourself up from that?”

Of course, strong relationships can grow from a fun fling after a breakup, but quickly jumping from one relationship to another without giving yourself time to take stock of what went wrong is rarely a good idea. “If you’re still in pain, obsessing about your ex, or suffering from emotional whiplash, you’re not ready to date. The best post-breakup dating is done when you’ve accepted the fact that your ex is an ex for good reason,” relationship expert Susan Winter told Business Insider.

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