Gwen Stefani looks unrecognizable in flashback snap as she makes sad confession about her appearance

Gwen Stefani told Drew Barrymore that she felt insecure about her appearance as a high school student in Anaheim, California.

The 55-year-old music artist – who is married to country singer Blake Shelton – stopped by the talk show to promote her new album Bouquet.

Explaining what inspired her song Pretty, she said: “I looked back at my life, at all the pictures, like the physical and inner beauty of myself. I thought about eighth grade, I stared in the mirror at the gym, like at myself and said, “Am I cute? I don’t know.” You know when you’re trying to figure out if you are or not?’

The No Doubt frontwoman then explained that she evaluated the throwback snapshots to determine when she felt “the most beautiful” and when she liked herself “the most.”

She said exactly, “It was right when Blake started loving me.

‘I wanted to write a song about that, because when you really feel love for the first time, they reflect you. You can see yourself in it.’

Gwen pictured with brother Eric Stefani in 1983

Stefani previously described her relationship with Shelton, whom she met when they were both judges on The Voice, as a “miracle.”

After her heartbreaking divorce from ex-husband Gavin Rossdale in 2015, she wasn’t sure how to move forward.

And she felt protective of their three sons – Kingston, 18, Zuma, 16, and Apollo, 10 – after their divorce.

In an interview with Peoplethe singer shared, “The last four years of my life I got engaged, then got married and started my life over. Something I’ve wanted since I was a little girl is to get married and have the love I saw my parents have and have children.”

The Hollaback Girl hitmaker and her ex-husband dated for six years before tying the knot in September 2002.

Referring to her 13-year union with Rossdale, 59, she added: “That dream was completely ruined; it was crushed and I had to figure out how to move on and achieve a new dream.”

“God putting Blake in my life was just that miracle,” she said of their love story, which began later in 2015.

She recalled, “Especially growing up with this perfect example of love between my parents. They met when they were 15, and they fell in love, and then they had us (kids), and they made us feel like we were everything to them.

“And when you have a family and it’s the opposite, it falls apart… I didn’t know what to do or how to protect my children. And I’m still working on that.’

The 55-year-old music artist stopped by the talk show to promote her new album Bouquet. Explaining what inspired her song Pretty, she said: “I looked back at my life, at all the pictures, like the physical and inner beauty of myself. I thought about eighth grade, I was staring in the mirror at the gym, right, like I was saying to myself, “Am I cute? I don’t know”

Gwen has been married to country singer Blake Shelton since July 2021; pictured in May

Stefani is mother to three sons – Kingston, 18, Zuma, 16, and Apollo, 10 – whom she shares with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale; pictured with Shelton in May 2023

Stefani also spoke about her calling as a singer-songwriter, explaining that she has a “responsibility” to “share” her “gift” despite being busy raising her brood.

She said, ‘Where does the inspiration come from? Where do these words come from? They come to me, but they are given to me. So I feel like it’s my responsibility, whether I have kids or no kids, to share that.

“It’s a gift to me that I share with people. And I definitely think there are certain songs that don’t mean the same to me as they do to anyone else, because there’s no one in my head, in my heart, or in my soul.”

“They will have a different experience through the song,” she added of the listener’s relationship with her music.