Blake Shelton's Complete Dating History: First Marriage to Gwen Stefani
There’s been a lot written about Blake Shelton’s private life because — well, it’s not been so private. While there isn’t much known about his first wife, Kaynette Williams, the tabloids made up for lost time when he met, dated and married country superstar Miranda Lambert. Their headline-grabbing relationship certainly was a tumultuous experience because we never quite knew if they were fighting, making up, starting a family, or just quietly drinking whiskey at home in Oklahoma.
Shelton was always quick to address those rumors, but his words would come back to haunt him when he defended their marriage on the Today Show only months before they secretly split. “The truth is, I’ve never felt a stronger bond with … not only with her, but with any other human being in my life. …Miranda and I — she’s my life,” he sincerely told the hosts.
Well, life doesn’t always work out the way you planned, and it’s likely that Shelton never expected Gwen Stefani to walk into his life. It’s the classic country mouse-city mouse story, where opposites attract, but they just seem to fit like a comfortable, cozy flannel shirt on a cool day in October. These two just work — but it wasn’t an easy road for The Voice judge to get there. In fact, he had to get cast on the show to even make his current path happen.
Learn more about Blake Shelton’s dating timeline and how he found his way into Gwen Stefani’s arms.
A version of this article was originally published in 2021.
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The Kaynette Williams Era’s Origin
Blake Shelton had a thing for older women in high school when he met Kaynette Williams — he was 15 years old and she was just out of high school. The Ada, Oklahoma teenagers fell hard for each other and Williams joined the family music business by becoming his tour manager while Shelton tried to make it big in Nashville.
They took their relationship to the next level when Shelton causally asked her to marry him during a weekend with friends. “I got in from hunting that morning, and asked her to marry me, and we went back out hunting,” he told CMT in 2003, via Country Fancast.
Wedded Bliss
They married in a small ceremony on Nov. 17, 2003, during a short tour hiatus.
“It was just Kaynette, myself, the guy who married us, and a photographer,” Shelton recalled to Nash Country Weekly about their elopement; and he sang “Julia” by Conway Twitty to her.
The country singer described his marital bliss to Country Weekly, via the country fan site. “It’s just something I feel – you know what I mean? It’s nothing more than just knowing you’re right.”
‘Inappropriate Marital Conduct’
Well, those feelings were right until 2006 when the couple divorced. Shelton chalked it up to the fact that he “married [his] buddy,” per Men’s Journal, but Williams had a different perspective on the situation.
She claimed he was “guilty of inappropriate marital conduct,” per Country Fancast, and we know exactly who she is talking about: Miranda Lambert.
Per the same outlet, she tried to sell her wedding dress on eBay for $700 afterward..
Love at First Sight with Miranda Lambert
Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert are a part of country music gossip history because the day they met, it was love at first sight. The only problem was that he was still married to Kaynette Williams and Lambert was engaged to country singer Jeff Allen McManus — uh, no big deal.
In a VH1 Behind the Music episode, via EW, she described their “instant chemistry” when they were paired to sing a duet at CMT’s 100 Greatest Duets Concert in 2005, but Shelton was a little more stressed out about the fact that he was “a married guy.” He recalled the moment in the TV special, “Standing up there and singing with somebody and going, ‘Man, this shouldn’t be happening.’ Looking back on that, I was falling in love with her, right there on stage.”
Breakups & an Engagement
The country singers knew their forbidden love was wrong, but it didn’t stop them. “I knew he was married. I knew better, like, this is off-limits…,” she told People. “I didn’t know what to do with it…” The truth is they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other, so that led to the breakup of Shelton’s marriage and the end of Lambert’s engagement.
The “Hillbilly Bone” singer waited five years before he proposed to his girlfriend in 2010. “He called my dad and got his blessing first,” she told People. “That was so Southern and old-school and perfect.” And true to form, the proposal happened at Lambert’s home in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, where they celebrated with “a couple of Bacardi and Diet Sprites – in a Solo cup!”
Things Are Not So Perfect
Shelton and Lambert had a down-home country wedding in Boerne, Texas, in May 2011, but the shine from their wedding didn’t last very long. Even though they were both at the top of their game in the music industry, it didn’t leave much time for them as a couple. “With anyone who reaches that level of celebrity, it creates a pull on the couple. You are being pulled apart Literally,” the “Only Prettier” singer told People. “Blake’s person is pulling him that way, and my person is pulling me this way. You get to that point where you’re both saying, ‘Where is our time? We need us time.'”
Even Shelton’s first wife wasn’t ready for this coupling to be shoved in her face after she had moved home to Oklahoma after their divorce. “Then Blake and Miranda moved back there to a neighboring town, and it just felt like Oklahoma wasn’t big enough for all of us,” Williams told The Enquirer, via Life & Style. She relocated to Kansas to stay away from the cause of her divorce. (That’s messy!)
Allegations of Infidelity
With Shelton constantly in Los Angeles to film The Voice and Lambert on the road with her music, their paths didn’t cross as much as the married couple needed. That’s when the allegations of infidelity began to swirl around in early 2013 that he hooked up with singer Cady Groves. Shelton was then was spotted getting cozy one night with actress Lindsey Sporrer at Usher’s 35th birthday party.
The flames were fueled even more when the blond actress posted an Instagram photo of the two of them together, “Didn’t expect to chat here with a super sweet guy with a super thick Oklahoma accent…,” she captioned the post. (See the photo at the Daily Mail.) “I felt our pic required the Nashville filter.”
Shelton made light of the situation by tweeting his then-wife, “Hey
@mirandalambert… I just read in a tabloid that our marriage is falling apart!!! FOCK!!!” She responded jokingly, “Oh no! Can’t wait to read if we make it or not!”
The couple would weather the ups and downs of a bicoastal marriage, pregnancy rumors and allegations of infidelity on both sides. It seemed inevitable that their lives were headed in different directions.
They Are Singing the Blues
Shelton had to constantly reassure his wife — and the media — that “there are no secrets” between them. But even telling Lambert, “I have nothing to hide from you,” didn’t stop the constant rumors, per People.
Even though, Lambert told CMT in 2013 that “divorce is not an option,” it became a reality in 2015. After four years of marriage, the couple put out a statement, via Us Weekly, “This is not the future we envisioned,” they wrote. “And it is with heavy hearts that we move forward separately. We are real people, with real lives, with real families, friends and colleagues.”
The country music fairy tale was over — the king and queen had called it quits.
‘The Voice’ Changed It All
Blake Shelton didn’t make much of an impression on Gwen Stefani when she joined the NBC show as a coach during the seventh season. She was married to Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and just had her third baby with him. It took a solid two years before the couple connected over the most unlikely life change that they were going through at the same time: alleged infidelity and divorce.
“She didn’t tell me much, because we didn’t know each other at the time, but she said, ‘I’m going through something very similar to what you’re going through. I understand. And I hate it.,’ ” Shelton recalled to Billboard in 2016. “That’s kind of how our friendship and bond started, that day.”
From Friends to On-Air Flirtatious Exchanges
Things went from about zero to sixty with the couple even though they remained coy about their relationship in the press. “Next thing I know, I wake up and she’s all I care about, and I’m -wondering if she feels the same about me,” Shelton told Billboard. Viewers couldn’t miss the Instagram posts and the obvious chemistry between them on The Voice — it was a match made in heaven.
“You just don’t see things that are right around the corner after such, like, devastation,” Stefani reflectively shared with the Today Show in January 2021. The country singer feels the same way telling Billboard that the former No Doubt lead singer “saved my life.” And after many suspenseful months in 2015, the music power couple finally confirmed their relationship — even though we knew these two were sneaking around all along.
It’s a Family Affair
It took a few years for Shelton to figure out where he fits in with Stefani’s three sons with Rossdale, Kingston, 15, Zuma, 12, and Apollo, 7. He’s not their father, but he enjoys being a bonus dad tremendously — a role that came naturally after the boys accepted him.
“For a long time, it was awkward trying to figure out what my place is and in their mind too,” Shelton told People in 2017. “The best part for me, selfishly is discovering a part of myself that I never really knew was in there… it’s definitely an instinct that kind of kicks in.”
Now, it’s never surprising to see Shelton stepping in as Disneyland dad, red carpet dad and even sideline sports dad. He thought the opportunity to be a parent had passed him by, but with Stefani comes the added blessing of three kids.
The Moment We’ve All Been Waiting For
Shelton is not very quick when it comes to proposing (we saw that in his relationship with Lambert), but in the middle of a pandemic, he finally proposed to our favorite “Hollaback Girl” at their ranch in Oklahoma after five years of dating.
“I walked in and my son was sitting right by this fireplace and Blake basically was getting down on his knees to do a fire and he goes, ‘Hey, can you look in that cabinet over there and get me a fire starter?’” she explained on The Kelly Clarkson Show in December. “So I open the cabinet and there was like a ring in a box and I was like: ‘AHHH! What? Are you serious?!’”
Finally Down the Aisle
In 2021, the pair married at a chapel on July 3, 2021, at Shelton’s Oklahoma ranch. The marriage was officiated by Carson Daly, she donned a gown from Vera Wang that was a custom lily-white silk tulle high low gown; and the whole wedding was an intimate event, per Brides.
Alleged Trouble in Paradise & A Response
Throughout 2023, there were many rumors that Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton were having issues in their marriage. They were allegedly butting heads on tour schedules, couples counseling, and the possibility of more kids.
However, Stefani and Shelton collaborated on a new song called “Purple Irises,” and the lyrics showed everyone that there was nothing to worry about.
“But if someone comes along and tries to / Love you like I do / Don’t know what I’d do / Don’t want to lose you,” Stefani and Shelton sing. As the song goes on, Shelton chimes in: “I got you / And you got me.” The chorus to the song also features the lyrics, “No, I never knew a love like this. Now we’re picking / Purple irises.”
