While I’ve been on Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton’s side from the beginning, I was recently reminded of just how much Gavin Rossdale sucks. Rossdale recently gave a rare interview in which he spoke about his divorce from Gwen and trying to co-parent their three sons, and he came across like a self-pitying douche who conveniently “forgets” that his infidelity is the whole reason why his ex-wife left. Currently, this is the ten-year anniversary of when Gwen first met Blake Shelton too. While Blake and Gwen didn’t start dating until 2015, they worked together on The Voice, and Blake’s divorce from Miranda Lambert began right as Gwen was looking for the exit ramp from her marriage to Gavin. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of their first meeting, Blake spoke to Entertainment Tonight about Gwen, being a stepfather and how this past decade has been the best of his life.

When he first met Gwen: Looking back on the 10-year anniversary of their first meeting, Shelton said that while they didn’t really talk much during her first season on The Voice as she had just given birth to Apollo, it didn’t take long for their lives — which were “falling apart,” according to tabloids at the time — to fall together. “You would see her out at the red chairs if there was a production meeting or whatever and I feel like I got to know Pharrell [Williams] more that year than I did Gwen,” he said of her first year. “It wasn’t until the season she came back, the next one, that the pieces were falling together.”

He loves those kids: “If I could have a repeat of these past 10 years, [that] would be perfect,” he said of what he hopes the future holds. “Next month, we’ve got an 18-year-old, which it blows my mind that already happened. And in a couple of years, we’ll have another 18-year-old. And that’s… it’s gonna be I guess a lot more alone time, which I’m not mad about that either. But we still have Apollo, so we have another almost 10 years before we can kick him out, so it should be a lot of fun.”

His role as stepfather: “I learned quickly, not because anything happened, but just, you know, reading the room, you’ve really got [to think], ‘I have to take a step back,'” Shelton said of his mindset shift while stepping into the role of stepdad. “When people say it’s not about you anymore when you have a kid… I think, if you’re doing it right, it’s not about you anymore. That’s true.”

He gets to teach the boys about being country: “I get to teach them the country, you know, and I love that. Whether it’s music, whether it’s literally getting out, getting their hands in the dirt or being out on the ranch, seeing the animals, whatever, you know? I absolutely love being the person that gets to introduce them to that stuff.”

Fate played a hand: “No, oh my god,” he said when asked if he ever imagined finding a love like the one he has with the No Doubt singer. “I don’t know how you can imagine when you find that life partner, that missing piece, you know, you didn’t know what was missing? If you would’ve told me the first season that we met that — what was gonna happen, I would’ve been like, ‘No, we actually don’t even have anything to even talk about, you know? What are you talking about?’ … It’s crazy how things work out.”

[From ET]

As I said, I was always on their side. I love them together, even more nowadays. He supports her and prioritizes her and the boys. He would be happy as a clam just living in Oklahoma with Gwen and the kids, but he seems content to split his time between LA and Oklahoma, because that’s what Gwen needs too. I was reminded of this 2022 interview Blake did where he talked about how he was raised by a stepfather he adored, and that gave him the roadmap for loving Gwen’s sons so much. I really do feel like… this is one couple who will last forever.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.