When Gwen Stefani joined The Voice in 2014 for Season 7 of the hit singing competition, no one could have guessed that it would lead to a love connection for her and original, long-time judge Blake Shelton. But, the couple has been going strong since 2015, and have recorded music together and also merged their pop / country styles on stage and in real life. Obviously, Shelton has been a part of the lives of Stefani's kids for some time, but now he's opening up about how "scary" actually helping to parent them has been for him.
Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani have managed to stay happy while navigating their public relationship, and are no strangers to posting photos of each other, as well the occasional heartwarming tribute, on social media. With that, we've often seen Shelton hanging out with Stefani's three sons with her ex-husband, Gavin Rossdale, Kingston (14), Zuma (11), and Apollo (6). Shelton spoke with Today recently about quarantining with Stefani and her kids, and revealed that having to act as a parent to them is something brand new for him:
That’s a scary moment for me because it’s one thing for me to be with the kids all the time and be their buddy, but you do have to consider after awhile that they start to listen to things that you say and there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with that, which is new to me.
Obviously, anyone with a career as strong as Blake Shelton's already knows a thing or two about responsibility, but he probably didn't fully consider the brand new obligations he would take on by beginning to date Gwen Stefani. As Shelton noted, we've seen him pal around with her boys plenty over the years, and it's pretty clear that they enjoy spending time with him, as he does with them, but when you spend so much time with kids, they're bound to pay attention to what you say and do (and possibly take away unintended lessons from that) and this is one such area where some unexpected responsibility would come in.
Stefani's three children are also likely to ask for or need Shelton's guidance at some point, and when you add that with him trying to monitor his behavior around them so that he sets a good example, you can see where it would, indeed, be scary for him to think about his effect on Stefani's boys.
As Blake Shelton also said during his interview, it's easy enough to be a "buddy" to his girlfriend's kids. And, this is probably especially true for Shelton, who has often displayed his sense of humor and goofy side on The Voice, which has led to him being one of the most popular judges the show has had in its 18 seasons and nine years on the air. But, he must be doing a pretty good job of acting as a surrogate dad to the trio, because Gwen Stefani is happy enough with him to have posted some lovely words for Shelton on Father's Day.
The Voice is scheduled to return for Season 19 on NBC, with Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani (though we don't know whose spot she's taking over), sometime this fall, so be sure to stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates!
