Shelton's embraced his role as 'bonus dad' to Kingston, Zuma and Apollo.
Blake Shelton is one cool bonus dad!
In July 2021, Blake tied the knot with Gwen Stefani, after the pair met and got together on The Voice following their respective divorces. The No Doubt frontwoman is mom to sons Kingston, 17, Zuma, 14, and Apollo, 9 -- with her rocker ex-husband, Gavin Rossdale -- making Blake an instant stepfather of three, and he's embraced the experience with a lot of love and plenty of laughs.
Ahead of Blake's departure from The Voice earlier this year, he spoke with ET about his time on the show, marveling at how the experience had wholly shifted his life -- both professionally and personally.
"I mean, my god, it’s been 23 seasons, 12 years," he reflected. "My friends, I've seen their kids literally grow up... It’s unbelievable, all the life that’s happened. I met my wife on there, you know, everything good that could come from something like that, I've maxed it out."
Meeting Gwen and making a family together is certainly the most life-changing result of Blake's time on the show, and the couple isn't shy about sharing the special moments with Kingston, Zuma and Apollo on social media -- like this sweet Father's Day post from 2022 with all of Gwen's boys ganging up on her together.
And it seems there's been no doubt in Gwen's mind about Blake's role in her sons' lives. In a September 2019 interview on the Today show, when she was asked if Blake would make a good dad, the singer was quick to clarify that he already is.
"He is a good dad, actually," she shared. "He's been helping me out a lot, so I literally get to the point where I'm like, 'You gotta get home, I need help.' It's hard. I got three boys."
Read on to see some of Blake's sweetest moments with his stepsons, and most heartwarming things he's said about their relationship.
THE EARLY YEARS
Blake seemed to hit it off with Gwen's boys right away. The country singer won over the fun-loving kids with dance parties in the kitchen, silly face swaps, and tons of fun in the sun.
He went the extra mile, racking up "cool points" with cameos in kids' movies like Angry Birds and UglyDolls, dressing up like a Scooby-Doo character for Apollo's 4th birthday and helping the boys get "tattoos" just like his:
Blake even featured Kingston, Zuma and Apollo in the music video for his 2017 single, "I'll Name the Dogs."
The country music star also wasted no time getting the boys to love farm life at his ranch in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, from enjoying the lake to feeding the livestock to teaching Kingston to drive... and promptly getting stuck in the mud.
A source told ET in August 2019 that Blake was having a blast with Gwen and her boys as their relationship continued to progress.
"Gwen and Blake do so many fun activities with the boys and Blake plays with them like a big kid," the source said at the time. "He seriously enjoys doing things with the kids like going to the movies, fishing, camping, and teaching them to horseback ride and boating."
"They are both working so much and are loving their life as a family," the source added of the couple. "Blake has made Gwen's boys a huge priority in his life and cares for them like they're his own."
GETTING SERIOUS
It wasn't always all fun and games, however. In a July 2020 interview with the Today show, Blake admitted that, as things got more serious in his relationship with Gwen, he was forced to consider the responsibility of also being in the boys' lives in a more consistent way.
"It was a scary moment for me," he explained. "It's one thing to be with the kids all the time and be their buddy, but you do have to consider after a while that they start to listen to things that you say. There's a lot of responsibility that comes with that, which is new to me."
When he proposed in October 2020, Blake made sure Kingston, Zuma and Apollo were included in the exciting moment "every step of the way."
"Blake is very close to Gwen's boys," a source told ET at the time. "They talked it through and Blake made sure they were part of the excitement!"
Later that year, Blake himself shared how important it was to him to include Gwen's family, including the boys, in his proposal.
"The only thing I had planned was that I knew I wanted to do it in Oklahoma while all her kids were there [as well as our siblings]," Shelton said in a December 2020 interview on the Bobby Bones Show. "We have a group that we get together on [most holidays] with those two parts of our extended family, and it's been like that for years. I wanted everybody to be there in the moment."
"I didn't want to take her away or do something private away from the kids," he continued. "I felt like it was important for the kids to be a part of that moment, so that's what I did."
FALLING MORE IN LOVE
In February 2021, Blake opened up about becoming a stepfather during a radio interview on KFROG's The Ride With Kim & Heather, saying, "I take it very serious. But I also have a blast with it, I'm not gonna lie. I don't take it so serious that I'm not enjoying this time because I really am, especially now that we're five years into this thing. I can't imagine my life without these kids now."
"I don't know if it's as hard, or harder, as being an actual, biological parent, you know?" he added. "I have a stepfather in my life who's one of my heroes. I love my stepfather and I look up to him and he's like a father to me, so I have a good inspiration in my life for how to do this and the kind of stepdad I want to be."
A year later, during a talk at the Country Radio Seminar, Blake admitted that Gwen was hesitant about their relationship in the early days, worried that he wouldn't be able to accept her sons as part of his life.
"I think Gwen thought, when we first started seeing each other, that it was just gonna be a moment in time because of that," he said via People.
However, he had a good example to follow. Blake shared that, growing up watching his father parent his late brother, Richie, who was a baby and not his biological son when his parents got together, served as an inspiration to him.
"He took Richie on and raised him from the time he was a one-year-old, and my brother never thought of my dad as anything other than his dad," he explained. "The example that my dad set for me was that [child] was not even a consideration. You got three boys? Awesome! My dad did it. My dad raised me. I could do this."
With Gwen's boys, Blake admitted, "I didn't know what I was signing up for, but I was all about signing up for it... And every day I've fallen in love with the boys as much as I do with Gwen."
SWEETLY SUPPORTIVE
For their part, the boys seem just as enamored with their stepfather. Gwen's 2021 Father's Day post for Blake was full of throwback pics of the boys smiling wide with Blake -- he's adorably pictured snuggling a baby Apollo and getting decked out in camo with young Kingston and Zuma
In a true sign of affection, Kingston even reluctantly accepted an embarrassing smooch from Blake on his 14th birthday:
And when Blake was nominated for a GRAMMY Award in November 2019, no one was more supportive than Gwen's oldest son. In a fun video shared to Gwen's Instagram, Kingston remarks, "Blake, what did you just say?"
"I said I was nominated for a GRAMMY this morning," the country singer answers.
"What the heck!" Kingston celebrates.
In a December 2022 interview with People, Blake shared how Kingston, Zuma and Apollo had truly changed the way he sees himself.
"They've taught me something about myself that I never knew: I'm more than just a country singer or a goofy guy," he marveled. "I'm someone they actually lean on, and that's not a responsibility that I ever had and not something that I ever considered even being into... It's a different kind of self-worth. Maybe it's the opposite of self-worth because you put yourself way down on the rung, and they move up ahead of you."
NEW PRIORITIES
In August 2022, just over a month before he announced his exit from The Voice, Blake shared with ET how his relationship with Gwen and her sons had shifted his priorities.
"Look, I love music and I love The Voice. I love all the cool things I get to do with my job, but those things all take a backseat now to Gwen and the kids and it’s just a new phase of my life," he shared.
When ET spoke with Blake on his Back to the Honky Tonk Tour in March 2023, he shared how blessed he felt to be able to have Gwen and her sons worked into his future plans.
"I didn't even know you could hope for this kind of situation," he admitted. "None of it was in my plan. I hoped to hear myself on the radio one day, that was my dream, and so I got it, and now everything else has just been gravy."
And as his time on the singing competition came to a close, Blake also said that he was excited to have more time to spend with his wife and the boys, noting that he had also pared down his touring schedule in order to have even more flexibility.
"I don’t do a lot of these -- I think we're doing 18 of these shows this year," he shared. "I try to limit it as much as I can, because the whole reason I’m even stepping away from The Voice is so I can just be there more, and that’s what I’m gonna do."
He shared a similar sentiment on night one of The Voice's season 23 finale, saying, "I want to finally have the opportunity to say yes to more stuff in my personal life, and not say, 'Let me check,' or just flat-out no."
WALKING TOGETHER
Gwen and the boys were on hand when Blake received his very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2023, with the proud wife praising Blake as her "dream come true" in her speech.
"It blows my mind to be here today on the Hollywood Walk of Fame celebrating my husband," Stefani told the crowd, before speaking directly to Blake to share her and her sons' appreciation for him. "You are so deserving of this honor and the boys and I and all of your family, your friends and colleagues, could not be more proud."
In true family fashion, the boys were also there to keep the country star humble.
"I think they're kind of shocked," Blake told ET after the ceremony when asked what the boys thought of the honor. "There was a moment with Kingston, our oldest boy... I forget what was going on, we were just sitting in the living room, and something came on TV, maybe it was an ad for The Voice or something, and he looked at me and he said, 'Blake, sometimes I forget that you're famous. I forget that you do that stuff too.'"
"So today, it was like, it makes them proud, I think," he added. "It makes me proud."
FOLLOWING IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS
Kingston followed in the footsteps of all three of his famous parental figures when he took the stage at Shelton's Ole Red restaurant and bar in Tishomingo for his first-ever public performance at just 17.
The crowd was enthralled, giving Kingston plenty of cheers and a massive standing ovation at the end, making Gwen and Blake proud parents.
Ever the joker, however, Blake couldn't let Kingston offstage without a hug and a bit of ribbing.
"I mean, I'm not gonna let him close out the show. You know what I mean?" he quipped as he prepared his encore. "I'm still in competition mode a little bit."
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