Gwen Stefani is opening up about the emotional struggle she went through as a young mom trying to launch her music career with the band No Doubt. Although the band would go on to be successful with the singer at the helm, she can’t help but remember the sacrifices she made along the way.

In an interview with the publication, Nylon, the “Purple Irises” singer reflected on those early days and the guilt she felt every time she went to write a song with her bandmates, leaving her husband at the time, Gavin Rossdale, and children, Kingston, Apollo and Zuma, behind.

“I would be leaving my family,” she says. “And if I didn’t come home with a song, I’d be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m such a loser — I didn’t have dinner with my family, and I didn’t write a song. I wasted an entire day of my life trying to be in No Doubt again.”

Many artists experience the same push and pull when it comes to the music business. The job requires sacrifice and a lot of time on the road away from home. Stefani says the pressure to keep everyone happy was hard on her.

“I look at it now and I think, ‘God, what was I doing trying to please everybody?’ Because really, I should have just been with my family,” she explains. “But we did it, and there are some good songs.”

Stefani and No Doubt will reunite for a performance at Coachella in 2024. The GXVE creator has been sharing videos of the band’s rehearsals on social media.

Who Are Gwen Stefani’s Kids?

Stefani is the mother of three sons — Kingston, 17, Zuma, 15, and Apollo, 10 — who she shares with her ex-husband, Rossdale. She and the Bush frontman married in 2002, but divorced in 2015.

Right around the time of her split with Rossdale, the “Nobody But You” singer joined the reality singing competition series The Voice as a coach. This is when she met fellow coach and country singer Blake Shelton, and the two formed a close bond that eventually turned into a romantic relationship. The pair tied the knot in 2021.