Blake Shelton Reveals New Details About Why Adam Levine Left 'The Voice'
Blake Shelton reveals how he feels about Adam Levine's departure from The Voice.
The veteran coach admits that girlfriend Gwen Stefani joining the show will "soften the blow."
Blake Shelton and Adam Levine's on-air bromance is officially over.
In May, The Voice announced that the Maroon 5 frontman will not be returning to the NBC show for season 17 (despite previous confirmation that he'd be back). Blake's longtime girlfriend Gwen Stefani is stepping up as Adam's replacement, but the veteran coach is still struggling to accept his co-star's shocking exit.
Initially, Blake tweeted that he was "having a hard time wrapping [his] head around [Adam] not being at [The Voice] anymore." Now, the country star is opening up about the switch-up and what the first season of the competition series without Adam might be like.
"I can't imagine, honestly, what the show is gonna feel like at first without [him] there," Blake said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. "I mean, we're about to start filming the 17th season of the show, and Adam has been my frenemy from day one."
While the longtime coach's departure came as a total surprise to fans, Blake confessed that the decision was less shocking to The Voice insiders.
"I think we all knew, on the inside of the show, that he was ready to make a move. For a guy like Adam, who is just—he's the most ADD person I think I've met—for him to have even done it as long as he did without wanting to move on to the next thing, is amazing," Blake said. "But I know he's happy with his decision. Doesn't mean I am, or any of us [are happy], but at least they were able to soften the blow a little bit and bring Gwen back."
The No Doubt singer was previously a Voice coach during seasons 7, 9, and 12—and her romance with Blake actually began while they were working together on the series. The country star joked that while he wishes he had something to do with her return, producers "pulled the trigger before [he] even had time to react."
"By the time I found out what was going on, which was only about 12 hours before the announcement, they had already reached out to Gwen's camp and said, 'Look, Adam's decided he's gonna move on, we're ready for Gwen if she's in,'" Blake explained.
"I'm like, trying to get in the middle of this, literally, I got on the phone with one of the NBC executives, and I was saying, 'Hey man, if Adam's gonna do this, we have got to—' and before I could even finish my sentence, she said, 'Blake, it's done. What are you doing?' And I went, 'Oh, okay. Perfect!'"
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