The marriage between Gwen Stefani and her husband, Gavin Rossdale, has been annulled by the Catholic Church more than five years after the couple split.
51-year-old Stefani had begun the formal process for an annulment in March 2019 after splitting from Rossdale in August 2015 after thirteen years of marriage.
Their divorce was legally finalized in April 2016 but was not recognized by the Catholic Church until this week when a Vatican tribunal granted the annulment.
Stefani was raised as a Catholic and has continued to practice her faith. A source has said it was a “huge relief” when she got the news of the annulment, as her religion is “extremely important” to her, and she wanted to get married by a priest and have her next marriage recognized by the Vatican.
In the Catholic Church, remarriage is only permitted if a previous marriage has been annulled. Although Stefani had already filed for the annulment, it was more important than ever when boyfriend Blake Shelton proposed in October 2020.
While the annulment is now official, it will be formally communicated in writing to Stefani in the coming weeks.
Last year, Gwen Stefani said she would postpone her wedding to Blake Shelton — which is expected to take place in a chapel built by Shelton himself — due to the coronavirus pandemic, and wait until it was permitted to have a full ceremony and reception with family and friends to tie the knot.
In a recent interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the diva opened up about the proposal that she had almost given up on and her upcoming wedding to Shelton.
Stefani explained: “I gotta tell you, I was sorta like, What’s happening with us? It was kind of in my mind like, We’ve been together a long time now. What’s going on? I was in that place in my head.”
She said that the wedding proposal did not come at an ideal time and added: “We have no plans because of the pandemic. It’s like, Blake, why couldn’t you have done it before! Now we can’t have a wedding with the pandemic. It’s like sitting around going, OK, drag it out more!”
Stefani shares her three children with her previous husband, Gavin Rossdale. Together they have 14-year-old Kingston, 12-year-old Zuma, and 6-year-old Apollo.
She will be Blake Shelton’s third wife, as he was previously married to Kaynette Gern from 2003 until 2006, and Miranda Lambert from 2011 until 2014.
