Gwen Stefani rose to fame and popularity in the 1990s thanks to her rock band, No Doubt, which released the classic album in 1995, Tragic Kingdom. That LP featured hits like “Spiderwebs” and “Just a Girl.”
Videos by American Songwriter
Since then, the genre-bending Stefani, who is also a mother now, has ventured out on a solo career that has been equally, if not more successful. Today, the pop and fashion star is married to country star, Blake Shelton. Stefani is also set to take her husband’s chair on the next season of the popular NBC singing competition show, The Voice.
With all this to her name, one might wonder what the 53-year-old California-born Stefani has to say about life and love, her marriage, her career and the world at large.
Here are the best 20 Gwen Stefani quotes.
1. “It feels like the more I’m out there in the public eye, the more criticism I get. You need to have confidence—that’s what it takes to walk out there and sing a song in front of a huge group of people.”
2. “If I wasn’t even famous or had any success, I would still wake up and put tons of make-up on, and put on a cool outfit. That’s always been who I’ve been my whole life, so that’s never gonna change. I love fashion. I love getting dressed up. I love Halloween, too.”
3. “I got married and decided I wanted to do a dance record, and I didn’t ever expect for it to be what it was or for the ‘No Doubt’ thing to be such a long break, but it was one of those things where you just had to sort of follow your inspiration.”
4. “Out of all the artistic things I do, music is the most rewarding because it’s so hard to write songs.”
5. “I have to be creative to be happy.”
6. “Life is short and you’ve got to get the most out of it.”
7. “I was a different person before I started to write. When I realized I could be a songwriter and that people would listen—that was when I started feeling good in my life.”
8. “I’m really emotional. I don’t fight with people—like, I can barely fight with my husband because I’ll just start crying instead. I’ve learned not to do that.”
9. “I wanted so badly to have a backup plan for when I’m not performing anymore. Let’s be realistic: it’s not going to be like this forever.”
10. “Being a singer is all about me. About ego. Being a mom is all about being selfless—two different worlds.”
11. “Finding that balance between work and family is the hardest thing I’ve ever done—by far.”
12. “I think I’ve been able to fool a lot of people because I know I’m a dork. I’m a geek.”
13. “I imagine my children are going to save me from my vanity and be my passion and fill whatever fears I have of the amazing time I’m having right now being gone.”
14. “Sometimes you have to sacrifice your performance for high heels.”
15. “You know, I was chubby when I was a little girl. And I have all those issues everyone else has. But I try not to. And I’ve learned over the years that it’s such a waste of time. And people like me whether I’m a little bit fatter or not.”
16. “My mom always said I was the peacemaker in the family. My older brother, Eric, was the leader, the creative one. I was just his puppet.”
17. “I’m just, like, totally normal. The fact that any of this has happened, that we’re sitting here at the Beverly Hills Hotel just gets me going, like, ‘What?'”
18. “Music has this emotional thing to it, and it touches people in crazy ways. The power of having that power is something that, once you have it, you don’t want it to ever end.”
19. “I don’t have a strong sense of self-worth unless I’m doing something.”
20. “It was such a turning point to find that I had a talent and I had something to contribute, somewhere.”
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
