Us Weekly: Gwen Stefani's Annulment from Ex Gavin Rossdale Has Been Granted by the Catholic Church
Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani are one step closer to the wedding of their dreams, as the Catholic Church reportedly granted the "No Doubt" singer's annulment from her ex Gavin Rossdale.
Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are holding off on their wedding until all the pieces fall into place. While the novel coronavirus pandemic plays its part, they can now at least wed where they want to.
The lovebirds got engaged in late October 2020, and Stefani revealed she wants to get married in a church. First, however, she had to get her previous union with Gavin Rossdale annulled by the Catholic Church to do so.
Gwen Stefani visits Hallmark Channel's "Home & Family" on December 02, 2020 in Universal City, California. | Source: Getty Images.
WHAT GWEN WANTS
In March 2019, Us Weekly broke the news that Stefani started the process to formally annul her marriage to Rossdale because religion is "extremely important" to the 51-year-old singer.
While Stefani waited for her official status to change, the novel coronavirus pandemic dominated most of 2020. For that reason, she and Shelton decided to wait until they wed. A source told the publication:
"Gwen knows she is blessed and wants to have the wedding as soon as social distancing guidelines are lifted.”
When the couple does finally tie the knot, Stefani's sons with her ex, Kingston, Zuma, and Apollo are said to have a "large part" in the wedding and are just as excited about it as Stefani and Shelton.
THE DIVORCE FILING
Rossdale and Stefani had been married for over a decade before she filed for divorce in August 2015. While Stefani cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason, Rossdale didn't share the same sentiment.
The former Bush frontman didn't want to get divorced, and he opened up about their very public split in 2017, noting that it's been one of the most painful experiences of his life.
THE ANNULMENT
But Stefani found love again with Shelton, and since her annulment from Rossdale is now official in the eyes of the Catholic Church, they have one less thing standing in the way of their dream wedding.
According to Us Weekly, the Vatican tribunal granted the annulment. While written notification will reach Stefani in a few weeks, she already received the wonderful news.
“It was a huge relief for Gwen because she wanted to get married by her priest and have the marriage recognized by the Catholic church,” a source told the publication.
THE DIVORCE TRIGGER
Stefani's longtime marriage to Rossdale crumbled after she was made aware of the affair he had with their children's nanny, Mindy Mann, at the time.
Mann had already been their sons' nanny for three years when Stefani found out about the infidelity, which went on for the entire duration of her employment.
Since their split, Stefani and Rossdale developed a healthy co-parenting relationship, but with him living in London, it's more challenging to spend time with the kids due to the pandemic.
Nonetheless, the singer made sure to express his love for his son Zuma when he turned 12 last August with a slideshow of images and a touching tribute.