In a land far, far away — AKA, Nashville in the early aughts — Blake Shelton, 43, rocked a mullet while coming up in the country music scene. But if you dive deeper into Blake’s hair history, you’ll discover that he was still rocking the “business in the front, party in the back” style during high school in the early ’90s! His girlfriend Gwen Stefani, 49, brought Blake’s long affair with the mullet to light in a new Instagram post on Sept. 19. The singer shared a black-and-white photo of Blake with his long curly ‘do, and while it’s TBD what year the relic was taken, the throwback photo made Gwen write a sweet confession: “wish I would’ve met u sooner Gx.”
Gwen met Blake when she joined the judging panel of The Voice in 2014, but both were still married to their respective spouses at the time (Gavin Rossdale, 53, and Miranda Lambert, 35). After Gwen and Blake went through hard splits with their partners, they found love in an unsuspecting place: each other! The co-judges confirmed their romance in the fall of 2015, and given how blissful the relationship has been ever since, we can understand why Gwen wishes their meet-cute happened even sooner.
At least Gwen can look forward to making new memories with Blake on the set of The Voice. The Season 17 premiere, which is on Sept. 23, marks Gwen’s return to the show since Season 12 aired in 2017 (while Gwen judges on the show off and on again, Blake has been spinning his chair around since Season 1). Despite Blake’s OG status (and six championships to boast of), he and Gwen are still looking forward to some healthy competition. “To actually be here and get to beat Blake…This is war!” Gwen declared in a sneak peek clip for the upcoming season of The Voice.
Blake’s especially happy to have Gwen back on The Voice, and not just for romantic reasons. “This season Gwen has saved the show in Blake’s eyes,” a source close to the couple EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife. “He and the rest of the coaches were geared to work with Adam [Levine] again but once that fell through the show had to scramble and Gwen stepped up. Blake has seen a side of Gwen that he respects so much,” the insider added. “She is such a hard worker and to see that right in front of his face is very inspiring.”