The new cover of PEOPLE this week features Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton. The headline on the cover tells us that after dating for four years, the two are ready to get married. In the article posted at PEOPLE.com, however, we find out that there’s a glitch: while they want to marry, it’s “not currently possible”.
The reason? Gwen wants to get married in church. She’s Catholic though and the Church doesn’t allow for remarriages until the previous marriage has been annulled and that can be a “lengthy process”. Gwen’s civil divorce from Gaving Rossdale was finalised in April 2016. So it’s been over three years. That seems… like a long time?
I’ve just done some reading on annulments. The general time frame seems to be between 12 to 18 months, on average. Delays can occur when there is difficulty securing witnesses or if there are appeals. Or, maybe, because we’re talking about Hollywood, there’s just a backlog with annulments and they haven’t gotten to Gwen and Gavin’s case yet?
I do find it curious that they wanted this out there. As noted, Gwen and Blake have been together four years. There’s been wedding buzz pretty much since. That’s been intensifying lately so did they want to chill the rumours and give us an administrative explanation as to why it’s not happening yet in case other rumours arise? I mean, I don’t know what those rumours could be. Gwen and Blake have been solid from the beginning. Like it may been seemed like a “huh?” to start but once you break down their personalities and the values, yeah, they make a lot of sense. And also, they’ve been relatively drama-free. Occasionally a tabloid here and there will try to start some sh-t but that never goes anywhere because, well, they’re relatively drama-free.
So what’s this about? Is it a simple FYI? Is it that PEOPLE’s reporters heard something from a source and, since it’s slowing down in entertainment ahead of the holidays, they turned this into a cover story? Are they giving us a hint about someone being difficult where the annulment is concerned? Promotion for The Voice? Is this a something or a nothing?
