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Back in May, Blake Shelton returned to his roots, dropping his first album in four years, the winkingly titled For Recreational Use Only. After solely recording love songs with wife Gwen Stefani, the country singer offered up a surprising duet, “Hangin’ On” — the first breakup song the two have recorded together. Blake said they collaborated on the track, which is about “breaking up but still trying to stay together,” he told Access Hollywood in March, adding that he chose it simply because “it’s a bada*s country song,” insisting, “It’s really no reflection of where Gwen and I are in our relationship — I hope.”
In recent months, fans and friends alike have grown concerned the message may be more autobiographical than Blake let on. In fact, the pair haven’t been photographed in months. Date nights and getaways “don’t seem to be happening anymore,” an insider tells Star. “Gwen and Blake have been spending an awful lot of time apart lately.”
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Ten years ago, the country music singer and the pop star unexpectedly fell in love following the implosions of their respective marriages — Blake’s to fellow country singer Miranda Lambert, 42; Gwen’s to Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, 60. They bonded over their shared heartbreak while working as coaches on The Voice and wed four years ago in the chapel Blake built for his bride on his Tishomingo, Okla., ranch and continued to show the world their love on the NBC competition series until 2022. The pair were a surpising couple, with Gwen a fashion-loving California native and Blake a down-home country guy.
“The Voice was good for their marriage because it bonded them professionally,” says the source. (Not to mention it gave Blake, who’s “not an L.A. guy and never will be” per the source, a reason to spend time in L.A. despite his preference for his beloved farm.) But with Blake rooted in the country and Gwen looking ahead to a 2026 Las Vegas residency at Sphere, says the source, “It’s become a talking point amongst friends and fans that they’re living separate lives. A lot of people think the magic’s started to wear off.”
A Noticeable Shift
It’s been seven months since they last posed on a red carpet together — back when Blake hosted NBC’s Grand Ole Opry 100th anniversary celebration in March. A few weeks later, in April, Gwen shared snapshots from a family getaway to the Ozarks with Blake and her three sons from her first marriage, Kingston, 19, Zuma, 17, and Apollo, 11. Over the summer, she posted sweet tributes to their stepdad for Father’s Day, his 49th birthday and their wedding anniversary — though things have been noticeably quieter since. When Blake marked Gwen’s 56th birthday on Instagram Oct. 3, his message to his “pretty girl” was brief and, for him, relatively muted.
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For fans used to their big, public love-fests — gushing posts, red-carpet PDA and plenty of playful back-and-forth — it’s hard not to notice the couple has dialed things back, marking a shift from the days when they’d seemingly shout their love from the rooftops. Last year, when ESPN’s Pat McAfee asked him about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s increasingly public romance, Blake said he got it — because he’d done the same thing. “It’s like, ‘Look, I’m dating Gwen Stefani. I want the f**kin’ world to know that.’ You know what I mean?” he said, adding that putting themselves out there was a way of showing the world they were “super into each other and proud of each other and their accomplishments.”
Now? Not so much. “Truth be told, they’re both so different and it’s starting to become more apparent now,” says the source. “There’s a real fear that the way things are headed, Blake and Gwen could wind up becoming another Hollywood divorce casualty, even though it’s the last thing either of them would want.”
Different People
By the time Blake was 14, he knew what made him truly happy. “Country music, fishing and hunting,” he told Hook & Barrel magazine in February. Gwen loved music, too — but never dirt, bugs and humidity, she confessed to People. “I’m like, makeup girl,” the No Doubt frontwoman told Rolling Stone, acknowledging she and Blake are “so opposite in so many ways.”
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Heartache helped them find each other. Following the demise of their previous marriages in 2015, “I was at rock bottom, in the middle of hell… Gwen saved my life,” Blake told Billboard. “Who else on earth could understand going through a high-profile divorce from another musician?” As Gwen turned to her Roman Catholic faith to help her heal, Blake rediscovered his Christian roots, too. “I believe in God now more than I ever have in my life,” he told The Tennessean a few years into their romance, seeming to credit divine power for his relationship.
The city girl and the country boy tried to find common ground in Oklahoma — literally. “So much joy in gardening together,” Gwen told Rolling Stone last year. She even got “her own tractor,” Blake proudly told Nylon in 2024. Last year, he bragged about her nurturing instincts. “Gwen has an incredible sense for planting things: how to grow them and, once it’s growing, how to cultivate it, and when to prune something,” he said, adding, “I like to farm on a big scale, like corn or beans, acres at a time. She concentrates more on patches here and there and ends up farming things a little better than I do.” But the truth, according to the source, “is Gwen’s more at home in L.A. and this life in the outdoors doesn’t really stimulate or excite her the same way it does Blake. She gave up so much for him by moving to the ranch full-time, and it’s been a lonely existence at times.”
More Time Apart
Now Gwen’s gearing up for a sweet escape. Last month — days before the Oct. 19 debut of the new music competition show Blake’s hosting on CBS, The Road — No Doubt announced the band is reuniting for a series of high-profile concerts in Las Vegas, marking the 30th anniversary of their seminal album, Tragic Kingdom, which produced hits that include “Just a Girl,” “Don’t Speak,” “Spiderwebs” and “Sunday Morning.” Blake is busy too, says the source — making music, occasional tour dates, his Ole Red restaurant chain and TV projects — “but he’s all about the downtime when he can get it these days, whereas Gwen’s got a ton of commitments coming up. The Vegas residency is a big deal — she’s excited about that but also nervous as it’s a huge challenge. And it’ll mean more time apart from Blake.”
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And it could mean the end. Last year, Blake gushed about his happy life with his wife. “She’s my best friend,” he told Access Hollywood. “Maybe that’s the key… we literally have so much fun together. Whether [we’re] having a cup of coffee in the morning or watching a movie or performing in an arena somewhere.” Those who know them are hoping they can get back to that place “and get back on track,” says the source. “The priority is to get in the same room again and stop the rot before it’s too late.”
