Blake Shelton Opens Up About Being Stepdad To Gwen Stefani's Sons

Musicians Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California February 28, 2016. - RTS8HSM Reuters/Danny Moloshok

Blake Shelton is opening up about why he's embraced his role as a stepfather to his wife Gwen Stefani's three sons.

On Friday, Shelton sat down for an intimate hour-long interview and discussed a list of wide-ranging topics with "Country Countdown USA" host Lon Helton at this year's Country Radio Seminar, the national gathering of broadcasters, in Nashville, Tennessee, People reported.

Among the topics Shelton spoke about was his life with Stefani, whom he started dating in 2015 and married last year, and her three sons Kingston, 15, Zuma, 13, and Apollo, 8, with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale.

The country singer admitted that the three boys' presence initially made Stefani skeptical that the couple's relationship would last.

Alluding to her concern about whether he would want her sons in his life, Shelton shared, "I think Gwen thought, when we first started seeing each other, that it was just gonna be a moment in time because of that."

However, the "God Gave Me You" singer said he didn't hesitate to take on the role of stepfather to Stefani's children. Shelton credited the example his own father, who married his mother when she already had a baby, his brother Richie, set for him growing up.

Shelton — who lost his brother, age 24 at the time, in a car accident in 1990 — said his father raised Richie as his own when his brother was just 1-year-old, and Richie never thought of their father as anything other than his dad.

"The example that my dad set for me was that [a child] was not even a consideration [in a romantic partnership]," the singer shared. "You got three boys? Awesome! My dad did it. My dad raised me. I could do this. I didn't know what I was signing up for, but I was all about signing up for it. And every day I've fallen in love with the boys as much as I do with Gwen."

As for his career, the 45-year-old "Voice" coach knows the clock is ticking on his years in the entertainment industry, and he has no problem with that as his priorities have changed.

"What I've been looking forward to doing for the last four or five years ... is eyeing that timeline, that part of my career, where I just need to start stripping some things away," Shelton said. "You gotta get some life in there, and marrying Gwen, I've married into a family. She's got three boys ... and all of a sudden you go, there's other stuff."

Stefani and Shelton wed in July 2021 on his ranch in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. Their longtime friend and fellow "Voice" star Carson Daly officiated the ceremony.