Gavin Rossdale did not mince words about his feelings toward his very public divorce from ex-wife Gwen Stefani.
In an interview with The Guardian, the Bush frontman was asked to name his most embarrassing moment, and he candidly responded: “The gross and lopsided specter of the crumbling of my marriage.”
Rossdale had been married to Stefani for nearly 13 years when they announced in August 2015 that they came “to the mutual decision that we will no longer be partners in marriage.” They added that “we remain partners in parenthood and are committed to jointly raising our three sons in a happy and healthy environment.”
While divorce filings indicated that the pair had “irreconcilable differences,” rumors swirled that Rossdale had cheated on Stefani with the couple’s nanny, which caused quite a media frenzy.
In 2016, Stefani talked to Harper’s Bazaar about Rossdale’s infidelities and said, “Feb. 9 [2015] ― I obviously know the date” ― marked when she found out her marriage was over and was “the beginning of hell.”
“Like six, seven, eight months of torture, trying to figure out this big secret,” she told the publication, adding: “It was so insane because not only did my family break up, but then my kids are taken away like half the time, so that was really like, ‘What?! What did I do?’”
For Rossdale’s part, he told Fabulous magazine in 2017 that he didn’t want to end his marriage to Stefani.
“[Divorce] was completely opposite to what I wanted. Really not … but here we are,” he said. “Apart from death, I think divorce is one of the hardest, most painful things to go through.”
He added that he wishes things had worked out differently, saying, “You can’t not have regrets and be human at the same time.”
Rossdale noted that he and Stefani had been together as a couple for 20 years “and that in itself is pretty incredible. It’s a lifetime. I still think she’s incredible.”
Since their divorce, Rossdale has gone on to date model Natalie Golba while Stefani has been involved with country singer Blake Shelton. The former couple have also actively co-parented their children ― Kingston, Zuma, and Apollo.