Details About Gwen Stefani's Relationship With Her Son, Kingston

When Gwen Stefani welcomed her son Kingston James McGregor Rossdale to the world in 2006, there's no way she could have predicted how different her life would look by the time he was a teen. While she always wanted the "Simple Kind of Life," we're guessing that Stefani's idea of a happy ending didn't include acres of corn and her sons having a country singer for a stepfather — especially one that once sported a mullet. (Okay, Blake Shelton's old hairstyle wasn't that bad.) 

Stefani was still happily married to her first husband — Bush band member Gavin Rossdale — when she became a first-time mom. She named Kingston after the capital city of Jamaica, the origin place of the reggae and ska music genres that inspired so much of her band No Doubt's early work. Six months after her baby boy was born, she told Much Music (via People) that motherhood was everything she dreamed it would be. "The transition of having the baby was, like, flawless," she said. "I think he definitely knows that I'm someone special and that I feed him. I'm the milk cow!" She quickly introduced Kingston to her life on the road, taking him on tour with her when he was just a year old. "If I had to leave him at home and not bring him with me everywhere then I wouldn't do this," she told The Guardian. The trend-setting singer also had her son emulating her edgy style early on.

Gwen Stefani's oldest son wasn't your typical toddler. Kingston Rossdale didn't leave the house with filthy fingernails or slanted bangs, courtesy of mom's all-purpose scissors from the kitchen junk drawer. Even when he did a typical toddler thing that resulted in an emergency haircut, Stefani didn't just give him a buzzcut and call it a day. "When he was 3 and got his first Mohawk, that was me. But it was his fault. He stuck a slinky in his hair, and it got completely tangled, so we had to do something," she told Time. Two years later, Kingston became the envy of kindergartners everywhere when his mom let him rock a blue Mohawk.

When Kingston was 4, Just Jared published photographs of Stefani's mini-me rocking a multicolored manicure and pedicure. His mom had taken him to get his nails professionally done, but in 2015, Stefani told PrideSource that she often paints her sons' nails herself. This serves as a way for her to bond with her boys while allowing them to celebrate self-expression. Stefani recalled one of these sweet moments, "I said to Kingston, 'Are you sure you wanna do pink because you're gonna go to school tomorrow? Are you sure you're not gonna be embarrassed?' He said, 'No, I don't care; it's a cool color.'" This was a proud moment for Stefani: Proving that Kingston was learning the right lessons from her about embracing his individuality.

When Kingston Rossdale was a toddler, it was easy for Gwen Stefani to earn his approval. In 2009, she told 104.7 KISS FM that her family lived in the same neighborhood as Britney Spears, so Stefani scored major brownie points with Kingston by letting him visit his celebrity crush. "He thinks she's really great and cute and he flirts with her and stuff," she said (via People).

But as Kingston got older, it became harder to impress him. Appearing on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" in 2019, Stefani said that her son was still trying to take advantage of her celebrity connections. He apparently thought Stefani could reach out to Ellen DeGeneres, who could introduce him to the popular Twitch streamer Ninja. "I'm like, 'No, I'm not gonna text Ellen so you can play 'Fortnight' [with Ninja]!' Stefani humorously recalled (via ET Canada).

When Stefani appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2022, she didn't ask the talk show for Ninja's number, but the topic of Kingston did come up. Stefani said of her then 15-year-old son, "I better not talk about him. I don't want to embarrass him." But the proud mom just can't help but shower her first child with love sometimes. When Kingston turned 16, she shared a special birthday tribute to him on Instagram, writing, "I waited my whole life to be a mommy — I'm so blessed that God chose me to be yours." We don't know ab out you, but we think that's adorable.