Blake Shelton has enjoyed spending time with his girlfriend Gwen Stefani’s three children for the couple’s five years, but the country music star also knows that her relationship with the boys has a serious side.
Stefani, who shares her children Kingston, 14, Zuma, 11, and Apollo, 6, with her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, showed how much it means to them when she posted some joyous photos on Instagram of the children with Shelton in the Father’s Day last month. , thanking him “for helping me raise these boys!”
While Shelton was pleased with the sentiment, he also understands that he is a role model for children.
“It is a terrifying moment for me because it is one thing for me to be with the children all the time and be their friend, but after a while you should consider that they begin to hear the things you say and there is a lot of responsibility that comes with that”, he said to Carson Daly and Hoda Kotb TODAY Friday.
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Music stars and “Voice” trainers have been dating since 2015 and have been together with the kids at Shelton Ranch in Oklahoma during the pandemic.
“We have been doing things that I wish I had time to do for the last 20 years, I guess,” he said. “That’s literally stupid things like picking blackberries. We cultivate a garden, we cultivate several acres of sweet corn.”
They’ve also had time to make some music together, releasing the quarantine-inspired duet “Happy Anywhere” on Friday, where it immediately went to # 1 on the iTunes charts. They also gave TODAY fans a gift by playing live on Friday as part of the Citi Music Series 2020.
Their latest collaboration comes after the ballad “Nobody But You,” which they released in December, when it became Shelton’s 27th # 1 hit on country radio.
The couple has also had some family guests at the ranch. Carson and his family have spent some time dating as part of Shelton and Stefani’s small bubble of families.
“I have a lot of fun when we go out to the ranch,” Carson said. “We don’t do anything, it’s a lot of fun, it’s like an adventure. It’s like a movie.”
Shelton was asked if Carson, a California native, has any livestock skills.
“No, it really doesn’t,” Shelton said. “Absolutely.”
It is no surprise that Shelton and Stefani have welcomed guests like the Carson family and collaborated on some new music given that Shelton said he is unable to slow down when he is at home.
“I just can’t sit still, especially when I’m at home, there are too many things I want to do and want to experience,” he said.
The resounding success in the country genre has been a new experience for Stefani, who rose to fame as lead singer of pop punk bank No Doubt and later as a solo artist.
“I would say Gwen (she is more surprised than me) because she never imagined listening to herself on country radio, I think she has been listening for the past five years and has really fallen in love with country music,” Shelton said.