Gwen Stefani
She discovered through her sons that she was dyslexic
Gwen Stefani has three children together with her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale
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US star Gwen Stefani apparently suffered from dyslexia for years without being noticed. It was only through her sons that she discovered the weakness of reading and spelling.
Gwen Stefani (51, "Hollaback Girl") and her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale (55, "Adrenaline") raise their children, Kingston (14), Zuma (12) and Apollo (6). In the Apple Music podcast "At Home With" by the New Zealand radio DJ Zane Lowe (47), the singer now revealed that she suffers from dyslexia. She discovered the reading-spelling disorder when her sons also showed symptoms.
"Obviously it's in the genes"
"One thing I discovered by having kids is that I am dyslexic," Stefani says on the latest episode of the podcast. The former front woman of rock band No Doubt ("Hey Baby") believes that a lot of her previous problems and decisions were due to the weakness that is now showing up in her children. "Obviously it's in the genes," explains the 51-year-old. The children would have "some of these problems".
Stefani’s three sons are now getting exactly the help they need, as the fiancée of country musician Blake Shelton (44, "God's Country") reveals: "They have these great teachers and schools and they don’t have to be ashamed of them." Kingston, Zuma and Apollo understand "that their brains work differently," says the "The Sweet Escape" interpreter.
Because of her weakness, Gwen Stefani "failed at school"
In an interview with moderator Lowe, Stefani reports that she was not so lucky herself and "failed at school". It was "very difficult" for them to "function" within the school's prefabricated framework. "My brain didn't work that way; it still doesn't." On the other hand, it opened up opportunities for her that are presumably foreign to other people.
Reading and spelling disorders lead to problems converting spoken words into the written word and vice versa. For the songwriter Gwen Stefani, dyslexia is therefore a significant limitation. At the same time, writing songs and performing live helped her at a young age against the self-esteem problems the singer was suffering from. "When I wrote a song or went on stage, it felt so right," said Stefani. The two jobs were the only things that went smoothly in her life at the time.