Gwen Stefani: 'My new album saved my life'

Gwen Stefani's new album "saved her life" following her divorce from Gavin Rossdale.

The No Doubt frontwoman split from the British rocker last summer (15), after 13 years of marriage, and the couple's divorce was finalized in April (16) - a month after she released This Is What the Truth Feels Like - and she insists the experience of writing the songs and expressing herself through music helped her cope with the pain.

"It released me from that feeling of hopelessness," she tells Glamour magazine. "When I was in the studio... it was like, 'I need to be here right now. This is the only place I feel good. It doesn't matter what comes out of this, as far as my career - this isn't about a hit. It's about saving my life'."

Gwen is now dating country singer Blake Shelton, who divorced his wife, Miranda Lambert, last year (15) and she reveals he was also a big inspiration for her while she was recording the album.

"Finding somebody who was going through the exact same experience? That was an inspiration," she says. "He was a friend to me when I needed a friend. An unexpected gift. And that became an inspiration in the songwriting."

The split was a big life jolt for Gwen, but she insists it wasn't all bad.

"Sometimes to be woken up again in life, you need to go through some really bad, hard times," she says. "I feel like I got woken up this year."