Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert divorced in 2015, much to the shock of their fans. The couple had dodged cheating rumors for years, but they insisted they had a solid marriage. Shelton even said he welcomed the rumors, as they brought him publicity. He didn’t think they could rock his marriage, as he felt so confident in his connection with Lambert.

Blake Shelton said his relationship with Miranda Lambert was solid

Long before their divorce, Shelton and Lambert faced rumors of relationship strife. He said none of this bothered him. In fact, he embraced it.

“I love it,” Shelton said on CBS This Morning, per HuffPost. “I honestly do love it. I just know, to have that kind of coverage, if I’m popular enough they want to put me and Miranda on that stuff — that’s awesome. I have an album coming out! Put my album right next to it and pick it up.”

He said he knew his relationship with Lambert was solid. At that point, he had no intention of moving forward without her.

“I don’t know that I ever really had any doubts,” he said. “We had our ups and downs for damn sure along the way. I just could not imagine her not being in my life, I just couldn’t get over her, I know I can’t.”

A source said the rumors began to wear on them

Just two years later, Shelton and Lambert announced that they were ending their marriage.

“Their busy schedules were a big issue for them,” a source told E! News. “They both worked a lot and had to spend a lot of time apart. The less time they spent together, the more they grew apart.”

While Shelton said the affair rumors never bothered him, the source claimed they became a problem.

“Trust was an issue for both of them,” the source said. “It went along with having to spend a lot of time apart. Rumors of infidelity put stress on them. Despite denials, even just rumors of cheating are still hard to hear.”

Blake Shelton said Gwen Stefani saved him after his divorce from Miranda Lambert

When Shelton announced his divorce to the judges on The Voice, Gwen Stefani seemed particularly moved by his words. Afterward, she told him that she was experiencing a similar situation.

“I thought it was going to be another one of those things-are-going-to-be-OK talks,” he told Billboard. “She didn’t tell me much, because we didn’t know each other at the time, but she said, ‘I’m going through something very similar to what you’re going through. I understand. And I hate it.’ That’s kind of how our friendship and bond started, that day.”

Their connection eventually turned romantic. Shelton said Stefani was a lifesaver during a dark period in his life.

“Gwen saved my life,” he said. “Who else on earth could understand going through a high-profile divorce from another musician? You can’t even imagine the similarities in our divorces.”