Gwen Stefani Was “Embarrassed” By Her Divorce From Gavin Rossdale

It's been over a year since Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale announced their divorce in August of 2015. The end of the year saw a vulnerable Stefani trying to figure out life as a mother, singer, and designer without Rossdale, her husband of 13 years. But now, as 2016 comes to a close, Stefani has come full circle. She is one of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year. In her cover interview, Stefani again admits that she was incredibly "embarrassed" following the announcement of her separation. She said a lot of the pressures for a perfect marriage stemmed from her parents, who have been together for half a century. Glamour asked the Voice judge why she felt so ashamed for something that many women, and couples, experience in a lifetime. "I don’t think you’ll talk to one person who didn’t make it in a marriage who’s not gonna feel that way," Stefani answers. "The intention of being married is the vow, right? You want to put everything into it to make it a success. And all I had to look at was the huge success of my parents: They just had their 50th anniversary. I had to work really hard at marriage, all the time, like everybody, but ours was extra hard, when you add that we’re from different countries, both of us being in music, and celebrity. [Marriage] was the one thing I didn’t want to fail at." She added: "People can say whatever they want to about me…and I don’t get too affected. But I didn’t want them to think I was a failure. There’s nothing weird about how I felt." Stefani is happily in a relationship with country singer Blake Shelton, whom she describes as an "unexpected gift." She expands on their unlikely pairing by acknowledging that even though they come from "two different cultures," they have a deep connection through their "many similarities, in things that we love and our ­morals. But it’s really fun when you can learn about so many new things and share those differences." That sounds like a Woman of the Year if I've ever heard one.