Gwen Stefani recounts the 'low' points of her breakup with Gavin Rossdale: 'You think you’re hopeless'

'I was down real real low. I was like I don’t want to be down here,' says the No Doubt frontwoman

Stefani first met Rossdale when No Doubt supported Bush on tour back in 1995 - the couple went on to marry in London in 2002 (Getty)

Gwen Stefani has spoken candidly about overcoming overwhelming feelings of hopelessness after separating from Gavin Rossdale.

Last August, the pop icon called off her 13-year marriage to Rossdale, citing “irreconcilable differences”.

In an interview with Refinery 29, the 46-year-old former No Doubt frontwoman recounted the heartache of the divorce, explaining how it has served as a source of inspiration for her latest album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like.

“I just felt at a certain point in my own heart, when everything was crushed and I was down real, real low, I was like, I don’t want to be down here. This is not me. I remember feeling embarrassed. Like, I gotta prove that this is not going to be who I am. I gotta turn this into music,” said Stefani.

“I remember thinking, I could be sleeping in bed crying, or I could get up right now and try to drive to Santa Monica [for a recording session]. And I did it”.

Stefani, who shares joint custody of her three sons Kingston, ten, Zuma, eight, and Apollo, two, with the former Bush frontman, spoke honestly about the “hopeless” feelings she endured throughout the high-profile divorce.

“I think that when you go through what I went through, or what I’m still going through, you think you’re hopeless. You don’t know what’s going to happen,” Stefani added.

Stefani first met Rossdale when No Doubt supported Bush on tour back in 1995 - the couple went on to marry in London in 2002.

Stefani then goes on to recount how meeting The Voice judge Blake Shelton - who was going through his own separation from country star Miranda Lambert – served as a lifeline.

“It was a really super-unexpected gift to find a friend, somebody who happened to be going through the exact same thing as me, literally mirroring my experience. I don’t think it’s an accident that that happened. It saved me."

Following their official decision to file for a divorce last summer, Stefani and Rossdale released a joint statement explaining that they would continue to jointly raise their three children.

“While the two of us have come to the mutual decision that we will no longer be partners in marriage, we remain partners in parenthood and are committed to jointly raising our three sons in a happy and healthy environment,” the statement said.