Gwen Stefani: ‘I spent most of my life writing about heartache, and now I’m writing about my love’

Her three boys – Kingston, 17, Zuma, 14, and Apollo, 9 with ex partner Gavin Rossdale – are her world. And right on cue as we talk, her phone rings, and she picks up. Sweet Kingston is dialling in, to check up on his mama. “And I think being able to have, not just like romantic love, but having a family and being a mom and all of those things are just the most important things and there’s no doubt about it.” She adds – pun intended.

As for now, she’s pretty much at a point in her life where she feels at peace with the decisions she makes. “I went in and out of liking myself. I honestly think I was pretty hard on myself. But at the same time, I look back and I think, God, I was just being me and I got here because of that. So, I had to do a lot of forgiving of different things at certain times and, trying to be kind to myself.”

Experience has taught her that not being a hollaback girl might have been part of her secret recipe to success. Internal, self-loving success that is. There is undoubtedly something to say about women’s experiences navigating careers post the age of 50. However, she has not allowed that energy into her space.

“I honestly, I have not really experienced ageism. It’s probably around the corner though. I’ve been so blessed in this whole journey. I’ve been able to just glide to the next chapter and we talked about this earlier, but I think it’s just about keeping your eye on the ball, which is just trying to keep your eye on whatever is your purpose and what you’re supposed to be doing next, and trying to serve. And that’s what I try to do. I feel like, I give the pen to the man upstairs to write the story and here we are,” she says.

Of course she couldn’t leave everything to God, Gwen has been putting in the work to make sure her mental health is always in shape and she reveals that music and exercise are her sweet escapes (sorry guys, I had to). “Honestly I have been writing a lot of music lately. I feel like that helps me so much with my mental health because a lot of thinking goes into it. Songs can cure you. I also think being creative helps me.”

Gwen kept it real r.e. exercise though and it’s refreshing that she finds it hard to exercise like most of us. However, when Gwen does find the time, she never regrets it. “I don’t exercise every day. I don’t wanna exercise every day, but when I do, I feel so much better. I’m talking about like a million times better. So I think that’s important. I think that just trying to find balance, you know, in everything, from prayer to exercise to making out with my husband, like all of it.” It’s all exercise after all.