More than five years after they went their separate ways, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale have been granted an annulment by the Catholic Church, according to a new report.
“Gwen was told the decision was made by the Vatican tribunal,” a source told Us Weekly about the pair, who called it quits in August 2015. “She will be receiving the notification in writing in the next few weeks, but it’s official.”
This comes at the perfect time for Stefani, who recently got engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Blake Shelton . Waiting for the annulment served as a barrier between Gwen and her now-fiancé Blake tying to get married in a church.
“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 went on to reveal.
In 2019, Us Weekly broke the news that the singer had begun “the formal process” to have her marriage to Rossdale annulled because “religion has always been extremely important to her.”
Fast forward to the beginning of 2020, and the coronavirus pandemic reportedly “changed” the No Doubt alum’s feelings about waiting to marry Shelton until the annulment had officially gone through. The pandemic made Stefani realize that waiting on the church was “futile because it could take years” to get a final decision, the source added at the time.
“COVID-19 has turned their world upside down, as it has with so many families,” the source told the publication in June 2020. “Gwen knows she is blessed and wants to have the wedding as soon as social distancing guidelines are lifted. Gwen wants to have a ceremony and reception with their family and friends.”
Luckily, things ended up getting pushed through right in time for Stefani, who got engaged less than three months ago. Now that her annulment from Rossdale--with whom she shares sons Kingston, 14, Zuma, 12, and Apollo, 6--is official, wedding planning is in full effect.
They plan to tie the knot “most likely early next year,” a source told Us Weekly in December. They went on to reveal that the country star “built a chapel on the grounds of his Oklahoma ranch” for the upcoming ceremony.
The couple met on the set of The Voice in 2015 and announced their engagement 5 years later in October 2020.
