For a few years before Blake Shelton proposed, Gwen Stefani was dropping hints in her interviews about how much she wanted to get married, but she only wanted to get married to Blake if she could get her first marriage annulled. That confused the hell out of me – Gwen and Gavin Rossdale were married for fourteen years and their marriage produced three children. How and why would the Catholic Church annul the marriage? Well, Blake ended up proposing to Gwen late last year, and of course she said yes. It was believed – and widely reported – that Gwen was prepared to marry Blake without getting an annulment, because the whole thing was moving at such a glacial pace. But look:
Fresh start! Gwen Stefani‘s annulment from ex-husband Gavin Rossdale was “finally granted” by the Catholic church, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly.
“Gwen was told the decision was made by the Vatican tribunal,” the insider says five years after the pair called it quits in August 2015. “She will be receiving the notification in writing in the next few weeks, but it’s official.”
“It was a huge relief for Gwen because she wanted to get married by her priest and have the marriage recognized by the Catholic church,” the source says.
Again, I don’t know a lot about Catholicism and all of that, but is that really what happens? You just get a piece of paper saying “that bitch got annulled”? I just thought it would be something in person, like a priest waving an incense stick over your body to purge the first marriage out of your body, something like that. Anyway, now Gwen and Blake have zero roadblocks. I bet they just do something small in Oklahoma, on his ranch, probably. A small pandemic wedding.
Meanwhile, Gwen was on the Tonight Show last week, and all she wanted to talk about was the engagement and how she was kind of mad that Blake waited so long to propose. She really is That Girl.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, social media.
I’m really happy for her! Her faith seems very important to her and I’m glad she can move on. Annulment can take years and is done on a case by case basis, at least in our diocese.
My mom and dad were married for 14 years with two of us kids, and she had her marriage annulled so she could still take part of the sacraments.
We all told her that no one was tracking whether she took communion or not, but she’s a very faithful woman, so she wouldn’t take it for a couple of years. It moved really fast in my moms case.
I’m also very happy for her. Best wishes to them both.
Is she really that much of a devout catholic or she just wanted to stick it to Gavin.
she’s a devout Catholic
“Devout” as long as she gets to pick and choose which rules she follows (extramarital sex? Who cares if THAT is prohibited, right?).
Exactly. The Catholic faith is so full of rules that people just follow them as much as they want to, or are able to.
As for the annulment, the only possible reason I can see is that there was fraud prior to the marriage. That is the rule. I went through this recently.
Gavin is known to be bisexual (or he may be flat out gay who occasionally gets with females). Surely Gwen knew Gavin had those proclivities so she’d be lying if she did know and married him anyway, and now wants (and obviously has gotten) an annulment. The whole thing is messed up IMO.
I tried to join the Catholic church and there is no way they’re going to contact my ex about our marriage. That’s why I didn’t join. I still consider myself a Catholic though. (Yeah, it ain’t up for debate here. Many Catholics will understand.)
I think the fraud here is that they entered into a marital contract in which he had no intention of remaining faithful to her. It probably has little to do with his bisexuality; if he had kept it in his pants, they might not have received this annullment. But it was very clear that he cheated on her.
The Catholic Church has complicated rules and I can’t say I agree with all of them, but on this count, there’s a clear example of one person who entered the marriage with every intention of treating it as a sacrament, and another who didn’t have any intention of doing so. I think Gwen’s probably a much more traditional girl than she seems to be, and her devotion to Blake (who also has a history with a cheating spouse, no?) will probably make this a much better pairing for both of them.
@Mrs Krabapple. Totally agree. She’s a ‘cafeteria’ Catholic.
I guess there are probably very few Catholics or Christians who follow the rules to the extreme. I think just like Islam and many other religions, there are so many rules which are difficult to follow in modern life or don’t really fit with a more modern understanding of the world. I think it’s probably unfair to judge her for not doing everything in the ‘perfect Christian way’. She’s working out what’s important to her.
I couldn’t even get to the part where she talks about her engagement because I was distracted by her mouth. It doesn’t move when she talks – her lips seem weirdly frozen. I couldn’t look away and it was disturbing.
But also congrats – glad she’s happy
Yeah, I watched her new video & was so distracted by how plastic she looks. I liked the idea of her going back to some iconic looks, but it was just weird to see how much her face has changed. I get it. I’m pushing 40 and the face I see on endless zoom calls is looking more like my dad every day, but I don’t want my face not to move.
Gosh Laura same, and everyone keeps reminding me of how much I look like my aunt, my dads sister, who is older than my dad but she had a facelift over fifteen years ago I’m pretty sure so I’m ever more depressed by it. I would love to do some tiny tweaks here and there but I’m so scared it would be obvious and I have one whole side of my family that has had way too much work done and like Gwen I am so distracted by their lips when they talk I can’t even hear what they are saying. Some of them are as young as 23-24 and are doing more and more every year. I don’t get it. I’m close to 40 and I’m just now thinking I need somethings done. When I was in my 20s the thought never crossed my mind!
I agree. I’m imagining one kiss is hard to distinguish from another. 🤣
It’s so hard for me to understand how anyone can care about what the Catholic Church thinks after the past few decades. Why give an organization that protects abusers of children that power over your life? I understand religion and tradition created strong bonds but has she not watched the news the past 20 years?! I can’t give passes to people that support this organization anymore. It’s sick.
I’m Catholic. It’s still possible to be one because it’s just a religion. You go to church , you pray to God as much as you want, and you follow a set of beliefs as an individual. Catholic churches don’t require people to pay (i.e you can choose not to give money or how much money you want to give), or even have a friendly relationship with anyone within the church. So basically, you’re there for the Catholic beliefs/teachings about God rather than obeying f***ed people
I don’t donate money to the churches itself because of scandals like this, unless I’m certain 100% of the money goes to things I can support-feeding the poor or fixing the AC. I’m there for my faith and not to support the corrupt leaders. Granted, I’m in an Asian country and we didn’t have the scandals so I don’t know what it’s like.
You DID have the scandals, they are everywhere. Even growing up Catholic in a small Canadian town, we had one there too. Just because you didn’t see a gigantic headline about abuse doesn’t mean it went on, it’s going on and the victims haven’t come forward yet or it was all hushed and the priest shuffled around. You cannot in good conscience support a religion that has been so evil and ruined so many lives.
@leskat, you’re right. the possibility of sex abuse can be applied to everywhere, and as far as I have checked, no reported cases here. This isn’t to say nothing happened, but boycotting a whole set of values because of the possibility of sex abuse is a big reach.
Just like how one may be a liberal but absolutely hate the liberals in power with the exception of one or two leaders, I believe in Catholic ideas/pillars/theology (not fully tbh) and i don’t support its leadership. There are some priests I trust in their teachings and intellect because they are fighting hard against the leaders but either way, my money isn’t going to them and I am not friends with any leaders. All i do is to go attend church once a week by myself.
It’s silly to say one cannot be Muslim because of the actions of their leaders (because there’s a line between being a Muslim by believing its theology-the abstract-vs supporting these individuals and funding them), and that’s the line I draw myself. I laugh at the idea that I’m somehow supporting pedos when all I’m doing is quietly praying to my God and minding my own business without paying anybody or being a a** to those who believe differently.
Not in every country. In Germany, catholic churches (and to be fair, other churches too) require you to pay a tax too….
I went to catholic school for 10 years, traumatized the hell out of me (beating/hitting was a regular part of our upbringing), so while I understand how catholicism can be important for others from a spiritual aspect, but the vatican and the catholic church itself has shown to be protective of child sex abuse, and other horrific abuses (laundries in Ireland, abuses at catholic schools, etc). I think there should be a difference made between being catholic AND supporting the catholic church/the vatican. I completely understand people being catholics but supporting the vatican/the catholic church there? Eh…..
I should also say my great grandfather back in the day got excommunicated from the catholic church too because he married a lutheran. Yeah I am really not a fan of the catholic church (or any organized religious institutions for that matter).
@white, i didnt know that! Over here, we just pass a bag and you can put whatever you want. There isn’t even a social norm because many people don’t put money in it.
My Catholic school was pretty secular here (normal school but with prayers all the time). We didn’t even have a nun! I think that’s the reason why I generally have a neutral view about the church. I’m pretty lucky because I’ve read so much shady and evil things in different countries. Organised religion is a hotbed for corruption, but I am not against OR as a concept in itself (but more so because a Bible has been interpreted a thousand different ways to justify all sorts of things, so some sort of organised interpretation helps, although the problem lies in who we trust)
I agree, there needs to be a distinction. But at the same time, I believe the lack of clarity, while it makes people attack me or my loved ones, help to put pressure on the Vatican to change to keep their numbers high.. I believe more and more Catholics are being hostile to it although unfortunately, they tend to be American Conservative (yuck). Hopefully one day, they’ll drain the swamp. I just pray everything hidden sees the light, as Jesus promised lol!
@CC2 ‘I just pray everything hidden sees the light, as Jesus promised lol!’ So do I🙏🏽☝🏽🙌🏽♥️!!!!!!!!!
Ahh yes. I was raised in a Catholic family. My grandparents on both are “devout.” My parents notsomuch, but they made us get First Communion, go through with Confirmation etc to appease my grandparents, which I kinda don’t respect them for considering neither of my siblings attend church at all with their kids and aren’t “faking it.”
Something I recall VIVIDLY from my confirmation days and made me feel SUPER UNEASY…we were having one of our several confirmation “retreats.” This one in particular was held in the home of the couple that “taught” our group (turns out THAT marriage had a whole host of serious problems, despite the facade of perfection, but that’s a whole other story…). Anyway, the priest shows up and we were basically forced to do confession – IN ONE OF THEIR BEDROOMS. I felt so incredibly uncomfortable being alone in that bedroom with the creepy old priest. I almost want to ask my childhood best friend if he remembers it and if anything unsavory happened. It was super, super, SUPER weird.
It’s cute that you think Catholics hold the monopoly on child abuse. Evangelicals have RIDICULOUS rates of it, but they circle the wagons more. Jehovas literally refuse to report the abuse and do nothing to the abuser unless there are TWO witnesses. Pretty sure most sex offenders aren’t collecting a big audience when abusing kids. But yeah, how can anyone be catholic 🙄
Does that mean that her children with Ross are now illegitimate in the eyes of the church? Because if that is the case, I’m really side-eyeing the trade off.
*PLEASE NOTE: I have absolutely no issues whatsoever with children born to a couple that is unmarried. But I think the Catholic church does.
Yes, that is exactly what it means. Ugh.
No, it doesn’t.
It does not mean that. Annullment has no effect at all on the children of the marriage.
That being said, it feels like annullment is handed out like candy to celebrities. Or maybe for a donation. I frankly think it’s outrageous and just highlights the inequities in treatment between rich and poor Catholics. The Catholic Church has enough of a PR problem and are hemoraging members. Anullments are obviously the least of its problems but it doesn’t help when it makes these kids of decisions.
No, it doesn’t at all. Like Josephine said, it has no effect at all on the legitimacy of the children.
No it absolutely does not. The children are still legitimate.
Canon 1137 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law specifically affirms the legitimacy of children born in both valid and putative marriages (objectively invalid, though at least one party celebrated in good faith).
Per Wikipedia
Dang. Canon Law. I wonder if that’s the first time that’s been cited around here. I’d give you an award of some kind if I could.
Re-spect.
12 years of Catholic school and a lifetime of Catholicism and I still can’t quote Canon Law to save my ass. LOL
Yup poor children. Since she is a devoted chatolic, she must know that she had make her children illegitimate.
Okay Dowager Countess. Spare us your Victorian moralizing.
Except that you’re wrong. And militant in that wrong-ness
Wrong, her children are legitimate, and I think the idea of illegitimacy is not even a thing in 2020 at least.
Yup. The Church is clear that it does not affect the children of the first marriage. The idea is that the spouse who was the victim should still be able to have a Catholic marriage, which they couldn’t do if it was a divorce as opposed to an annulment. It simply frees her up to have a church wedding, which is clearly important to her. The kids will hopefully be better off having a happy mom in the relationship she wants.
It does NOT delegitimize her children. It means both parties going into the marriage did not commit to the Catholic view of marriage, and thus was not truly a Catholic marriage.
Thanks everyone. 🙂 I wasn’t sure and now I feel educated. EAD, your comment gave me an entirely new perspective. I hadn’t thought of it like that before, as Gwen being the victim and just wanting a fair resolution.
Must have donated a hefty sum to the church. Regular people can’t get a marriage annulled after 10+ years and multiple children.
Wondering if she also made some claims about Gavin’s commitment to the lifelong marriage? And, of course, a donation. LOL
This is true. And it is also expensive. A marriage that was entered into with free will by two adults of sound mind that lasted many years and produced children should never be annulled. It makes a mockery of the idea of marriage as a sacrament. Why even ban divorce and remarriage?
I don’t think Gavin went into the marriage in good faith.
@justme Yes they can. Length of marriage has nothing to do with it. Its whether both parties entered into the sacrament with the intention to have a full marriage
Not telling Gwen about his previous bisexuality, his sexual tendencies with transexuals, and his long term infidelity with babysitters are what did this marriage in by nullifying the “in good faith”, part of the vows
The Catholic Church is a lot of things, but at least KNOWS you can’t “pray the gay away” like some other religions who encourage converting homosexual tendencies by marrying with a straight person .
My ex got one after 25 years of marriage and unless someone loaned him the money he didn’t pay for it. But, yes, hefty donations will definitely get you an annulment and quickly.
It ranges from $200 to $1,000 last I heard.
As a former Catholic School person (not Catholic now) for 13 years, I can tell you that the Catholic Church if fu**ed up. They still sell Indulgences. This was done in Philadelphia in the ’90s. I never worry myself about anything because I did Indulgences during the Mass. They were in our missals. I did small and large Indulgences to wipe out the sins of my family then and in the future. I’m going to Heaven!!!!!!
How did she get her marriage annulled? On what grounds ? That’s bizarre
Totally bizarre though I have a friend whose ex-husband got an annulment through the Catholic Church after 2 kids and years of marriage.
An annulment in the Church basically means that the vows never officially happened because the circumstances were flawed. E.g. You’re forced to marry him, you or your spouse lied about something big that would affect your choice on marriage, or you lied to one of the vows at the time it was said, so your vows were not truthfully said. It can also applied to baptized Catholics who married outside the church. The actual length of the marriage doesn’t matter, unlike legal marriages i think.
Money
This is NOT a legal annulment, it’s just a ‘spiritual’ one issued by the Catholic Church.
I am guessing the grounds were that they were never spiritually married given that Gavin was rumoured to have fathered 3 children during the time they were together (Daisy Lowe, Nannies baby and third baby protected by privacy laws).
And those are just the women we know about and not other liaisons.
Then there were the highly substantiated rumours about his sexuality which he never disclosed to her. Add the substance abuse and borderline alcoholism and you can see why she\d be angry.
I can see why she got the annulment. She deserved it bc they were never really married given the double life Gavin was leading and I think that does qualify as grounds for spiritual annulment.
What does that mean for her children? That her 3 kids from her marriage to Gavin are now illegitimate? Sick
God. No. The children are “legitimate.” It’s only the marriage that is annulled.
She might think this makes her future marriage look great, but it just makes a mockery of it since the Catholic church clearly has no legitimacy and will make special accessions for the rich (on top of everything else that makes the Catholic church awful and illegitimate). And if she made claims about Gavin’s commitment to the lifelong marriage, then doesn’t that work FOR ALMOST EVERY DIVORCE EVER? ffs.
Oh, and I was raised Catholic and am confirmed so don’t come for me about disrespecting the Catholic Church.
The claims doesn’t matter. Annulments basically mean something was off at the time of marriage. It could even be something as simple as a Catholic getting married outside of the Church. It’s not the same as a legal annulment. For all purposes, she has an ex husband. She’s just free to marry again.
Pretty much how back hundreds of years ago, your sins would be forgiven if you gave money to the church.
The catholic church is a scam with a hold on a lot of people.
I am glad it gives so many people comfort- but at what cost?
How many kids molested and abused?
How many “moral” judgments led to fractures of families and shunning of those not in line with the hypocritical, apply only when convenient “rules”?
@ariel
Your argument can also be applied to any country, political group, family, and relationship. Life is not in black and white. There are many different shades of grey.
Some people choose not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
You, of course, have every right to live by your standards but don’t expect “idealistic purity” from everyone else. You will just make yourself miserable — life’s too short for that.
Nothing says genuine and sincere religious belief like “donating” money for rubber stamp paper that exempts you, personally, from actual tenets of faith you supposedly hold so dear.
People should do whatever they want, but pretending they’re too special to actually have a failed marriage, as if a document is a reality distortion field is…something. But it’s not spirituality.
You nailed it. Not sure there’s anything left to add.
Exactly, sounds an awful lot like buying your way to heaven. I think Martin Luther argued against this 5 centuries ago.
Exactly!
It’s really not that hard to Google Catholic annulments and yet here we are with a comments section making declarative statements about illegitimatizing children (they aren’t) or that there are no grounds to annul marriages this long (there are and Gavin’s BS is classic).
There is plenty to dislike the Catholic church for without making up stuff.
Yep. Looks like people here are just venting (fair enough, the church f***ed up many times), but it’s so easy to fact check.
DS9. Thank you. People are clearly venting without doing any research into this.
And people have put in the work to address it in the comments, too. I agree, with all the other problems the church has, granting a religious annulment because of someone with Gavin’s history is not a big deal.
I took your advice and Googled it. From what I can tell, it comes down to this: An annulment doesn’t wipe out history, it doesn’t “illegitimize children” from a marriage, and it only happens following a legal divorce. What it does mean is that the original marriage lacked the “sacrament.” The definition of sacrament isn’t entirely clear to me, but it still seems that if one is truly devout, having brought three children into the world in the absence of sacrament is not great. I don’t know. however you slice it, this feels like she’s not applying her principles to parenthood here, that if any of her children share her faith, this would be hurtful to them.
Annulment in the Catholic Church (which is generally basically purchased) just means that the person is free to marry again and have THAT marriage recognized by the church. That’s why people do it.
Exactly, and, I believe, so that you can receive the sacraments, I.e. Communion, which you are not supposed to if you are divorced.
And it’s prohibitively costly for most folks. I have a great aunt who validly could have pursued annulment, her first husband never disclosed he was impotent (I laugh imagining the conversation between this great aunt and her sisters when she found out what wasn’t happening!), but no one in the family had much money. She divorced him and family members offered to support her pursuing an annulment, but it was crazy expensive and incredibly intrusive so she let it go.
Yes. That, as well. And YES, it is insanely expensive. I have a family member who did get one, and it was $$$$$.
Pope Francis insisted several years ago that the Catholic church do away with the costly fees for the annullments.
My friend’s marriage was annulled and she only had to pay $500 for processing and tribunal fees. *shrugs*
This annulment is so disrespectful to her children, not only does she make them illegitimate but it’s also a straight up denial of the union resulting in their existence. 14 years. I understand and respect religion, but don’t pretend you’re a virgin with a clean record when you’re obviously not. That’s just very odd and slightly hypocritical.
Having sex doesn’t make you unclean.
What? Restoring virginity is not what its about AT ALL.
Where are people getting these ideas?
they are pulling them out of their nether regions.
This is what the Kennedy’s have done making a joke of the whole process. If you really are a devout Catholic then you accept that you made a vow before god for the first marriage and you deal with the consequences of that vow until death. For better or for worse. She had an actual marriage with Gavin, even if it wasn’t great, but there is no real basis for annulment here, simply her selfish desire to have another church wedding and pretend that this time it’s for keeps.
Obviously no one should stay in a bad marriage, but the entire point of a Catholic ceremony is that it’s a sacrament and a vow before god and the congregation. It’s not meant to be easy but an annulment because he’s a cheater isn’t a real reason for one. Get a divorce and accept the consequences of that divorce. It’s not like you can’t attend mass as a divorced person and in most parishes you can get communion as well. This annulment is purely about ego, which misses the entire point of the original vow.
Also her bringing back harajuku girls is super racist so she has problems on many levels.
Read the above comments. The whole point of the annulment was that something was off at the time of marriage. It can mean a baptised Catholic having a non Catholic wedding, your partner withholding a huge secret that would have affected your choice, or never planning to have children (agreeing to be open to having kids and raising them in the faith is a requirement). It’s too intense to say that they have no basis, we don’t know what happened.
In the Kennedy case his argument was, at the time of the marriage, he was “mentally unprepared” for the commitment. His ex-wife fought it and the annulment was actually overturned.
There are also two types of annulment. The diocese can grant one after a tribunal, the Vatican is the next step and the big one.
It’s a myth children are considered illegitimate if a marriage is annulled. The annulment is between the two parties who married. The diocese of Harrisonburg has a great FAQ about annulment on their website.
^^ THIS – Exactly what CC2 said.
See my post above. This is not a legal process. It’s about being spiritually bound to someone.
‘What God has put together, let no man put asunder”.
The whole point is that Gwen wishes to declare that their union was never ordained by God, bc she did not have all the material facts at the time to make the decision to marry Gavin Rossdale.
Later we find out A LOT about him that really shocked and scarred her. Gavin did some pretty shady stuff and not just the regular garden variety cheating. He also had male lovers which was highly disrespectful to Gwen as he lied about his sexuality and being straight.
If this brings her closure, then good for her.
A lot of recovery from any emotional trauma or addiction is about embracing that life is bigger than us. If her faith helps her do that then so be it.
I know of a woman who got an annulment even though she was the one that didn’t want children. There was no cheating, nothing hidden about the marriage. So, basically, she was the one not fulfilling her faith by not agreeing to have children. Yet she was the one that asked for it and got one granted. Her parents must have paid a big fee (oops, donation) or she outright lied about how the marriage ended.
My stepdad ended up leaving the Catholic Church for my mom. They were meeting with the priest to go through the process to make their new marriage legit in the church, my mom had even gone to some classes and they were along in the process and the priest sprung it on them that not only would my stepdad have to (pay to) annul his first marriage, but that my mom would have to (pay to) annul hers that occurred outside the church. Meaning it shouldn’t have been viewed as legitimate in the first place. My stepdad literally walked out on the priest with my mom and that was that. He would always sit with us in the pew during communion when we went to holidays and baptisms and such visiting his family. I don’t understand it, although 30 years ago perhaps they could afford to be that stringent, not sure.
I’m not at all religious, so I’m sure I’m missing something, and I’m also well aware of the way their marriage ended which I’m sure caused no end of animosity but this seems so sad to me… effectively cancelling out 14 years of marriage producing three gorgeous children, they must have been happy once, it seems kind of disrespectful of the families shared history?
So if she and Blake Shelton want to be married in the Catholic Church (Blake converted a few years back) he will have to get two annulments for his first two marriages before they can do that. Unless he already has done that and it just wasn’t publicized ( although I have a hard time imagining Miranda Lambert not wanting to get some free press out of that). Family member wanted to marry non Catholic who was divorced. The Church made him get an annulment although his ex wasn’t Catholic either and they were married in a civil ceremony.
As someone who got my first marriage annulled because my parents cared about church weddings, I can say it cost a mint. It was a complete cash-grab.
I believe it has gotten cheaper in recent years?i read the pope wanted to make it more accessible and cheaper but I’m not sure about the concrete changes. I am still side eyeing this though, because I’m sure her status helped.
But doesn’t she live with Blake and engage in pre-marital relations with him? What does the Catholic Church say about that? This annullment makes no sense when she had 3 kids with her ex-husband !!! Also, is Blake even Catholic? Plus Blake was married before, so are those marriages annulled too?
Her priest can only advise them to stop bumping uglies, they still can get married because ‘sinners’ can still get married.
Amount of kids and length of marriage has nothing to do with it, but you’re right. He is married before and would need to anull it too. If he’s not Catholic and he married a non Catholic, he may actually not get an annulment because the Church believes marriages between non Catholics are valid in general. So….i wonder how this will go
I used to really like her… but this all just diminishes her in my eyes. Now I just think she’s dumb.
I don’t get it, but then again I’m not Catholic, so who knows. But to me, she was married for 14 years plus 3 kids, and Blake is going into his third? marriage, so I don’t really understand the need to feel like this is the first marriage.
So when does she start as a Real Housewife of Orange County?? She looks the part these days. So sad. I loved her original face.
I hate what Gwen has become…it’s all about Blake all the time. Codependency at its finest.
Agreed! She is not someone young girls should aspire to be.
She has ALWAYS been like this. She was like this with Tony AND Gavin.
I think it’s ridiculous that they gave her an annulment. I also just don’t like her.
I still side-eye her marrying Blake—he is a cheater just like Gavin! I would have liked her to have moved on with someone who didn’t have cheating rumors behind them. Now she just seems codependent and desperate.
I am a Catholic but I wonder if she can get an annulment again if this one hits the skids..
Did anyone else think that kiss above looks weird?
Shitty. Catholic annulments like this. Yeah, because she’s so devout, uhhuh. Because marriage is so sacred in the church. Sure.
How does she explain this to her children? Divorce is one thing but how do you explain an annulment from the Church?
Good for her! She seems like such a sweet person, and she’s looking absolutely gorgeous. I’ve loved her since in the No Doubt days. Wish them the best!
For all those who are saying Stefani needed the annulment to take sacrament. There are literally zero parishes in 2020 that are strict enough to deny communion to a divorcee, yet liberal enough to marry a couple who have been publicly cohabitating for years now. Also, like, 98% of priests in 2020 officiate weddings for divorced/non-church annulled couples all the time. Not in a mass (which very few do anyway), and some not even in the church building, but it’s pretty common for outdoor, secondary venues. They even partner with pastors, rabbis, etc of other faiths. If the Catholic Church actually enforced all of their arcane dogma, they’d have ceased to exist by now, even ignoring the glaring child sex abuse scandals. Technically, priests can’t marry people who say they’ll use birth control, or who admit to having premarital sex “in the church” either. Trust me, they’ve been looking the other way on who they wed, where and how for multiple centuries now. Also, as others have mentioned, Shelton is already twice divorced himself.
I don’t understand the one or two commenters here who feel the need to act as personal defenders of the Catholic Church. It’s bizarre.
How so? People have the right to defend their faith as well as the right to defend their lack of faith or lack of religion. And if you are referring to those people (like me) who are clearing up the misconceptions about Catholic annulment, then why would that be a problem? I’m a non-practicing Catholic who was raised in a Catholic orphanage in Ireland, so I do know a lot about the faith even though I choose not to practice it anymore (I’m a practicing Green Witch). The Catholic faith, in its pure form, is beautiful. It’s unfortunate that it has been, like many beautiful things, corrupted by man.
I’m from Italy and I live in Italy: annulment of your Marriage by the Catholic church can take years, but if you are rich and you are willing to spend money, you’ll always get it. This was explained to me by a catholic priest (kind of rebellious priest): the only difference between divorce and annulment is the latter is much more expensive.
Why would you want anything from anyone who has to do with raping children? The Catholic Church is big business. Period. Gross that she needed this.
I don’t mind the annulment, seems a bit hypocritical but hey.
On another subject, I always thought of these two as a Carrie & Aidan kind of couple (city girl and country boy with not much in common), and I was expecting a similar ending, but I guess I was wrong!