The star, 46, understandably went through a mourning period, but came out stronger on the other side. "Of course you go through the 'Why me?' and feel sorry for yourself," she says. "But then I was like, 'No, this happened to me already and I made something good out of it,' and that was Tragic Kingdom."
Many of the tracks on No Doubt's hit album were inspired by Stefani's difficult split from Tony Kanal, and the singer once again tapped into her personal life for her latest album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like.
She also recorded a very personal track with Shelton for his recent album, If I'm Honest, and the duet, "Go Ahead and Break My Heart," reached number one on the country charts. "I can't believe I'm number one on a country chart," she muses.
And though she does open up about one of the most difficult times in her life on her latest album, Stefani says she still keeps some details to herself.
"It's because I have children [Kingston, 10, Zuma, 7, and Apollo, 2]," she explains. "As a famous person, you start to think, 'I can't say all that because I'll embarrass them or hurt them in some way.' And especially now because they can see everything and hear everything. But I've done nothing I'm shamed of . . . Well, we all have a few things we're ashamed of."