NEWSGwen Stefani Admits: "I Was Still Living With My Parents When I Met Gavin Rossdale"
Aug. 7 2012, Published 2:41 p.m. ET
Gwen Stefani plays dress-up in bubble gum-colored Alexander McQueen and Jil Sander dresses for the September issue of Harper's Bazaar.
Wearing a flower-shaped Alexis Mabille Couture hat on the cover, the music and fashion icon opened up to the magazine about how, underneath it all, she's an "ordinary, nerdy girl" who was never interested in being famous.
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When discussing No Doubt's rise from obscurity with 1995's Tragic Kingdom album (the group is releasing its sixth studio album, Push and Shove, this year), she insists obsession with becoming a household name was never the motive.
"We didn't even do it because we were trying to make it. Now everybody wants to be famous. It doesn't even matter what you do," she told the magazine.
In fact, Tragic Kingdom (famous for hits "Don't Speak" and "Spiderwebs") was more of a therapeutic release for the singer.
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"Let me tell you how that first record happened: My boyfriend had broken up with me and I was devastated, so I wrote all these songs," she said. "I didn't even know I could write. I was just a girl who was in love with this guy, then suddenly I'm a songwriter, and I've gotten you back so good."
Regardless of having a hit record, after that split she was living with her parents in Anaheim, Calif., when dreamy Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale came calling.
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"When I started dating Gavin, I was still at my parents' house. Yeah, it's a little weird," she says, noting her strict Roman Catholic upbringing.
The press really hasn't been too kind to the couple. Several stories about Gavin's checkered past have come to light, including his rumored infidelity and homosexuality.
"That someone would say something untrue or bad about me doesn't bother me. It's like water off a duck's back," she said. "I know they can say anything; they can just make something up. But what are you going to do? It's not part of my reality, so it's okay."
