Blake Shelton Explains Why He Became a Stepfather to Gwen Stefani’s Sons

Blake Shelton can’t imagine his life without Gwen Stefani, and he credits one person in particular with inspiring him to take the next step with her, which is becoming a second father to her children.

The Oklahoma native shared how much being a father to Kingston, Apollo, and Zuma means to him during a recent visit at the Country Radio Seminar. Gwen has three sons with Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale when Blake met her on the set of The Voice in 2014. Following their divorces the following year (Blake from Miranda Lambert and Gwen from Gavin), the country music artist recognized that if they wanted to continue a long-term romance, Gwen’s sons were part of the package.

“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. But Blake shared that his stepdad, Richard, showed him that bringing families together is possible. “My dad when he married my mom — my mom [already] had a baby, my brother, Richie,” he continued. “He took Richie on and raised him from the time he was 1-year-old, and my brother never thought of my dad as anything other than his dad.”

After seeing his father embrace the role of a stepdad, The Voice coach got the confidence to be there for Gwen’s kids in the same way. “The example that my dad set for me was that [child] was not even a consideration [in a romantic partnership],” Blake said. “You got three boys? Awesome! My dad did it. My dad raised me.”

He knew what it was like to be on the other side of that kind of parent-child relationship because he had been on the other end of one. Still, Blake was determined to face it head-on. “I could do this. I didn’t know what I was signing up for, but I was all about signing up for it,” he said. “Every day, I fall in love with the boys as much as I do with Gwen.”

Blake is looking forward to seeing what life will be like now that they’ve been together seven years (almost a year married!). It’ll only be a matter of time, he says, before he starts to unwind and give more of his attention to his loved ones.

“What I’ve been looking forward to doing for the last four or five years is eyeing that timeline, that part of my career, where I just need to start stripping some things away,” he said. “You gotta get some life in there. [By] marrying Gwen, I’ve married into a family. She’s got three boys … and all of a sudden, you go, there’s other stuff.”