How a 'miracle' baby, friend's epiphany inspired Gwen Stefani's faith journey

Singer Gwen Stefani opened up about how an atheist friend’s spiritual journey, combined with what she described as a “miracle” pregnancy, inspired her to rekindle her Christian faith during a time when she felt “desperate.”

During a conversation with evangelist Jeff Cavins on the “Hallow: Prayer & Meditation” podcast, Stefani recalled longing to have another child with her then-husband, Gavin Rossdale. The 56-year-old singer and co-founder of the band No Doubt was 44 years old at the time.

“I was desperate at this point. I really wanted to have another baby. I really did. And I couldn’t, and I was old,” the multiple Grammy Award-winning singer told Cavins.

Around the same time, Stefani started working with a Jewish man who, while growing up in Israel, had been an atheist but later converted. The man experienced a “big epiphany awakening” after studying the Torah, and Stefani said their conversations prompted her to reflect on her own beliefs.

The music artist, who was raised Catholic, said the discussions with her friend were “waking [her] up.”

At one point during the interview, Stefani referred to herself as a “baby Christian,” acknowledging that she is “certainly a work in progress.”

“I think as a child, it was such a grounding thing, and I think my mom was the one that planted the seed of faith in me, and she knew I needed that, and I was going to need it, and she was right,” the artist said about her religious beliefs.

Stefani also recounted during the interview the role her oldest son, Kingston, now 19, played in her faith journey. Years ago, Kingston, one of the three children Stefani shares with Rossdale, approached his mother one day and said he wanted her to have another baby.

“I said, ‘I’m sorry, your mommy’s too old to have a baby now,’ you know,” Stefani said, recalling how her son then began praying for her to have another child.

“He was like, ‘Please God let my mom have a baby,’ and I was just sitting there going, ‘Wow, look at my little boy! He’s praying for me like he was doing it every night, and I never asked him to do that, never taught him that really,’” she recalled.

“I think it was like four weeks later, and I was pregnant with Apollo, who, you know, I had at 44 years old naturally. Totally a full-on gift. And that was the first miracle,” the mother of three said.

During the interview, the artist said she believes her musical talents come from God, admitting she did not always recognize this at first.

“I always have so much anxiety about it because I knew it wasn’t coming from me, but I didn’t know necessarily it was coming from God, or I didn’t recognize it,” she explained.

“But then I remember at a certain point in the last 10 years going, ‘No.’ Yet, God made this for me to do. And if I don’t do it and share it, that’s a sin,” Stefani added.

The award-winning music artist said she has learned to accept that God chose her for a purpose, adding that she feels “the closest to God” when she “is doing music.”

“I want people to see God’s light through me,” Stefani said. “I’m desperate for Him because I’m about ready to go on stage, and I’m not nervous, but I just want God to use me.”

In December 2024, the music artist invited people to join her for a prayer challenge, stressing that the holiday is about the biblical truth that “God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son.”

The singer said in a message on X at the time that she had partnered with the Catholic prayer app Hallow for the Pray25 Challenge.

“This season has always been my favorite time of the year,” Stefani said. “It’s a season that we get to celebrate the birth of our Lord. This year, I’m excited to share that I’ve partnered with this amazing prayer, meditation and music app called Hallow on their 15-day prayer challenge leading up to Christmas called Advent Pray25. Join me and millions of other Christians around the world as we celebrate together the truth that God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son.”