Gwen Stefani Only Realized She Was Dyslexic When Her Sons Had Trouble Reading

Gwen Stefani went through most of her life not knowing she was dyslexic.

In a new interview with Zane Lowe’s Apple Music show, the 51-year-old singer revealed she only learned she had dyslexia when her own sons starting having issues reading.

“One thing that I’ve discovered through having kids is that I have dyslexia — everyone has things that happen and mine was that,” she explained. “And I feel like a lot of the problems that I have had or even decisions that I’ve made for myself stem from that, because now the children — obviously, it’s all genetic — they have some of those issues.”

Stefani shares three sons — Kingston, 14, Zuma, 12, and Apollo, 6 — with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale.

“But now they get all these benefits. They have these incredible teachers and schools and they don’t have to have shame about it,” she continued. “They understand that their brain functions in a different way. All of our brains do, you know what I mean?”

While Gwen said she “failed at school” when she was younger, it wasn’t because she was a bad student.

“It was just really hard for me to function in that square box of school that everybody was supposed to be understanding,” she recalled. “And my brain didn’t work like that; it still doesn’t. But it works in different ways that are probably a gift that other people can’t do.”

The No Doubt singer said that her learning disability may have even played a role in her dependency issues and anxiety earlier on his her career, during the success of “Tragic Kingdom.”

“At that time, I had written that whole record not even knowing how to write a song and I had literally laid my entire life out for everyone to hear. And then I’m still in the band with Tony [Kanal] who I was so dependent on, because of probably my dyslexia,” she said. “I didn’t know any of this until now, but my point is, I think that I didn’t have any confidence in myself, at the time, but when I would write a song or I would get on stage, it just felt so right and the only thing that was going right for me.”

Going on to say that breakups were “a constant theme in my life,” Stefani praised her relationship with fiancé Blake Shelton — saying “that’s why life’s gotten so good right now, having a best friend I can be in love with.”

The two and Gwen’s kids are currently hunkered down in Oklahoma during the pandemic, and while she said it has been “hard,” she feels “lucky and blessed” to be together.

“The root of what I love about us together is that he’s my best friend, we tell each other everything, I don’t want to do anything without him,” she added of Blake. “He’s my homie. He’s a very generous, generous guy. He’s full of love and generosity. He’s a smart guy as well, you feel safe to lean on him and trust him.”