"For a long time, I could not understand why I’d had so much heartache in my life."
Gwen Stefani has experienced a lot of ups and downs over the past few years.
The 48-year-old singer covers the December issue of Marie Claire magazine, and admits when it comes to her life, "The whole thing has been crazy. I mean completely, totally crazy."
Before getting together with Black Shelton, Stefani experienced her fair share of heartbreak, noting that she's only been in two serious relationships prior to striking up a romance with the country crooner. In 2015, she called it quits from her husband of 13 years, Gavin Rossdale, and prior to that, she had a seven-year relationship with No Doubt’s Tony Kanal.
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"For a long time, I could not understand why I’d had so much heartache in my life," she tells the magazine. "I have parents who are still married and in love. I had such loving role models. I didn’t understand it."
That being said, Stefani says she learned a valuable lesson from those dark times. "What I learned was that my heartbreak was supposed to happen, that it was my purpose to write about and share my story," she says. "I met at least 50 to 100 people before each show on my tour and got to hear that my truth and my story translated, and I feel very lucky and honored knowing that."
As for Shelton, the "Go Ahead and Break My Heart" singer gushes, "He’s my best friend."
Stefani also opens up about spending time in Oklahoma with the 41-year-old singer. "It’s very tribal. Blake has a sister, she comes with her kids. We cook and get muddy and dirty," the mother of three shares. "There are ATVs. Being a mother of three boys, it’s kind of the perfect place. Everything is real now, whereas before, things didn’t seem so real.”
On Monday's Today show, Stefani talked about her song, "Make Me Like You," being about Shelton. "That is a Blake song! I remember praying in my bed when I was younger, like, 'Who am I gonna love? Who's that fantasy?'" she confessed. "So, I put that in a song, it was Blake!"
Stefani -- who is currently promoting her album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, which is out now -- also spoke exclusively with ET about being the girlfriend to People's Sexiest Man Alive and what she thinks is Shelton's sexiest quality.
Check it out:
