Having just come off a world tour promoting her record-breaking solo career and right before she steps into the studio with her old cohorts No Doubt, singer Gwen Stefani is flying too fast and bright to slow down. It’s safe to say that Stefani has become one of the gods of today’s pop music world, with plenty of devoted followers. Welcome to Gwenopolis.

A few days before I’m supposed to meet Gwen Stefani in Los Angeles for this interview, I just happen to run into her in a Virgin Megastore. Not surprisingly, Gwen is striking-movie-star blonde, impossibly big brown eyes, impeccable style. She also happens to be standing in a clear plastic box and is approximately 12″ tall. It’s the “Hollaback Gwen” doll, a fascinating (and, in this case, adorable) barometer of fame. It’s one thing to acquire international pop-star status, your own fashion empire, a level of wealth unimaginable to most humans, and what appears to be an enviable level of domestic bliss (right after this interview took place, Stefani indeed became pregnant with a second child). It’s quite another to actually see yourself immortalized in toy form.

When the real Gwen Stefani strolls onto the patio of The Beverly Hills Hotel a few days later, it’s easy to see how she might inspire the creation of a whole fleet of impossibly big-eyed dolls. Just home from a massive world tour in support of two hit solo records-2004 Love.Angel.Music.Baby and 2006’s The Sweet Escape – Stefani has none of the pretense or guardedness that one might expect from someone at the top of their game. Most pop stars coming down from more than a year on the road would probably be on an exotic, well-deserved vacation, but Stefani is happy to spend some time “being a real person again” in LA – which for her means running errands, working on her fashion line L.A.M.B., and spending quality time with musician Gavin Rossdale and their almost 2-year-old son, Kingston. Being a real person again also means getting back to the business of being a rock star. Rather than rest on the laurels of her newly established solo career, Stefani is also gearing up to re-enter the studio with her old band No Doubt. She’s so casual and friendly, it’s easy to forget that the woman sitting across the table just happens to be a globe-trotting supermom who has sold upward of 30million records and has one of the most recognizable faces in the world. This is why people love Gwen Stefani. More than just pretty and talented, she is someone you might actually want to know-the kind of sweet California girl who still loves makeup and old thrift stores, and isn’t afraid to admit she occasionally plays with dolls…even the ones created to look exactly like her. T.Cole Rachel

The last time you were on the cover of V was in 2004. No Doubt was on hiatus, and you were anxiously putting the finishing touches on a little solo project…
Wow, has it been that long? So much has happened since then. It’s so odd that we’re having this conversation today. I’ve only been home from my world tour for a few days and earlier this afternoon I had to go and finalize my will. So, it’s like this one big chapter of my life came to an end, and then I had to come home and basically take stock of my entire life. Like, now what? It’s a really strange time.

Were you shocked by the response to your first solo album, Love.Angel.Music.Baby and then The Sweet Escape?
You know what shocks me the most? It really was just this goofy thing that I did on a whim. Like, why not make a silly dance record just for fun? No Doubt was going on a break, and I wanted to record a few songs to see what would happen. I could have easily not made a solo record. It was purely the result of following my heart.

Did the experience of making these two records outside of No Doubt change the way you write songs and make music?
I still feel like writing the songs is the hardest thing I’ve ever done and also the most rewarding. I love designing things and I love the creative process involved with that as well, but there’s so much more magic involved in making a song. You never remember how to do it or how you did it before, but when you emerge at the end with this song… it’s literally like magic. I mean, I hate the process most of the time and it’s so daunting to think about going back into the studio to make a record. But a good song will still be around after you’re dead and gone. It’s permanent. Still, going in to work with all of those really talented people… I just felt like such an asshole. Like, I don’t know what I’m doing and I don’t really play an instrument and suddenly I ‘m in a room with Dre and Pharrell and Andre 3000. It was the most intimidating experience of my life. Obviously I’m glad I did it though.
[Laughs] I don’t know yet how this will affect my creative process with No Doubt but I’m sure it will in some way.

“Hollaback Girl” was also the first song in the states to sell a million copies as a digital download. That’s crazy, girl.
Pretty historic, right? Me and Pharrell were just like, Yeah!

The experience of touring on your own must have felt strange too, not to have the band up there behind you.
It was very different, but amazing. I played for over a million people and we did over a hundred shows. Because I’ve been doing this for so long I’ve had the experience of playing in front of all kinds of different audiences, but the audiences for this tour were like nothing I’ve ever seen. Success as a musician can seem really abstract until you actually go out on tour and see the crowds. Even then, it’s hard to grasp it somehow… walking out on a stage in front of thousands of people every night and realizing that this is their big night out and they’ve bought a ticket to see YOU. Every night I’d go through the same thing – “I’m too tired, I don’’t want to put these tights on, I can’t sing, I don’t wanna get ready.” Except for putting my makeup on-which I always enjoy – I’d just dread it. Then you walk out on stage and see the way people react and what the songs mean to them and it’s just incredibly rewarding. Every night I’d run out through the audience and have some kind of hands-on experience with the fans… and I mean that literally. I actually have scars from doing that. I love it. Plus I had nine costume changes! I’m not like Cher or Madonna – it wasn’t that huge of a production – but still I wouldn’t do nine costume changes in a No Doubt show.

So the boys in No Doubt weren’t pissed when you were out on the road for so long?
They have been very supportive and cool about it. I mean, they’ve been my friends since I was 16. They knew I’d come back and do another No Doubt record, plus they were all busy as well. It’s not like they were just waiting around for me to come back. They actually went into the studio ahead of me to start working, so I don’t even know how much material is going to be waiting for me when I go in to start playing with them. We did a photo shoot together as soon as I got back from the tour. I was like, let’s get together and take a picture before my body gets destroyed by this next baby that I want to have. [Laughs]. It was also a nice way for us to get together and do something as a band. It was a little weird, but we looked really cute. Now we just have to make the record.

No Doubt has been a band for twenty years now.
What? Do we have to say that? Can’t you just tell people that we’re a brand new band? You know, this hot new band called No Doubt. Check them out.

You should be flaunting it! Very few bands last that long. Still, the musical landscape has changed a lot since the last No Doubt record came out in 2001.
Yes, for sure. It’s daunting for us, but it’s also liberating. I feel like all our records are very different from each other and we’ve never really fit into a specific category. We evolved a lot from record to record, but it always still sounds like us. It’s weird that way. There’s a certain chemistry between us that can’t be faked. We don’t have the same sorts of problems that we used to have. We’ve grown up. I think this record could be the most inspired thing we’ve ever done as a band.

In No Doubt it’s not you calling all the shots.
Yeah, it’s back to the democracy of being a band. I’m like, Are you serious? I’m voting right now?

This is such an obvious question, but did your life feel radically changed after having Kingston?
I don’t feel like I really changed all that much. Kingston didn’t really change me so much as he just has made my life better. he makes me so happy. It’s hard to imagine until you have a child of your own. It’s just one of those miraculous human things that you have to experience for yourself. God, I’m gonna start crying when I talk about this because it’s just so.. it’s so intense. I put him to sleep at night and you know, I’ll be rocking him to sleep and he’ll be playing with my hair and… it’s just the most amazing feeling in the world. To have this little guy who loves me so much automatically, its just crazy. I’ll put him to bed and then, you know, enjoy having the quiet time when I can do stuff like go online and check my e-mail, hang out with Gavin, whatever, but when I find myself thinking that I can’t wait for him to wake up again so we can play. My favorite time of the day now is six-thirty in the morning. We all get up and spend the morning together. Now, you can ask Gavin and he’ll tell you that I am a sleepaholic. I love to sleep. If you had ever told me that I’d be waking up at six in the morning and enjoying it – for any reason – I would have never believed you. The last time I got up that early on a regular basis was when I was in high school! So yes, he’s changed my life. I have to be more protective of my time now. I have to be more organized. But those aren’t bad things to be, you know?

Do you ever find yourself having total Momzilla moments, where you suddenly realize, oh my God, I have become the crazy mom screaming about organic carrots at the grocery store?
[Laughs] Not too much. I think you start to relax after a while. I think we’re super relaxed about everything compared to other people with kids that we see. You realize that they are going to grow up and make messes and whatever. You can’t be psycho about it. Still, I understand the whole crazy mom thing because after you have kids you want them to have the best things-even if it’s the perfect organic carrot-because you love them so much. It just happens. Everyone should become a little bit crazy over their kid because kids deserve it. It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me and I’ve had a lot of great things happen to me. And yes, I definitely want to have more.. and it’s fun trying to get pregnant.

How do you juggle the music career, the family, and the fashion stuff?
It’s tough. you know. I’m going into my fifth year now of doing L.A.M.B and it’s like a full time job. Sometimes I’m afraid that I’m going to get tired from my own fashion line if I don’t do what I’m supposed to. There are days when all I want to do is relax and the baby will be asleep and even though I just want to do nothing I know that unless I do my work, no one else can do their work. So, I’ll tell Gavin to sit tight and I’ll spend the next few hours looking at old patterns online – which, bu the way, is my favorite thing in the world to do. Looking through old patterns, going to thrift stores. Visiting costume warehouses. I love it.

You’ve always had a very defined sense of style, even from the earliest days of the band. Now that you have this successful clothing line and are looking at as a style icon, do you find that you have to be more protective of your image?
Not really. I’ve always been in total control of my image and how I’ve been presented. No one ever told me how to dress or that I need to be more sexy or more fashion-y or whatever. For the longest time, I didn’t even let anyone else do my makeup or hair. To be honest, my sense of style isn’t insanely premeditated. I don’t really worry about it or think hard about it… usually it just happens. I’ll accidentally curl my hair a certain way. Sometimes I’ll see a girl in the audience who is copying my look but rocking it way better than I ever could and that will inspire me. I get inspired by everything around me. I was always the little girl locked in the bathroom putting on makeup, singing and getting a million burns from the curling iron. I’m still that girl.

As far as media attention goes, you and Gavin seem to fare pretty well. I don’t see gossip mags predicting your divorce every five minutes like they do with some celeb couples.
It’s just so weird that people feel free to comment on your marriage I guess we all do it, but it’s usually in regard to someone that we actually know. For complete strangers to weigh in on my private life is incredibly weird to me. As for me and Gavin… you know, we fell in love twelve years ago and we have had the rockiest, craziest, most amazing relationship. It’s sort of a miracle, actually. We work very hard at it. Plus, you know having a baby is just about the most romantic thing in the world you can do with somebody. We were together so long before we had him and he’s such a funny blend of us. We’re really lucky and very blessed but not because it isn’t difficult. Gavin is awesome. Oh god, what a quote… he’s awesome!

So, I was walking around the Virgin Megastore in New York and discovered that they had this huge island of Gwen Stefani mechandise – a total Gwenopolis right in the middle of the store.
Wait, did you say ‘Gwenopolis’? Can you please make sure that goes in this story? Actually, I want that. My next solo record is totally going to be called Gwenopolis.

Well, I’m looking at all the stuff – Harajuku Lovers bags, unauthorized Gwen Stefani biographies, DVD’s- and I picked up one of the Gwen Stefani dolls. As I’m holding the doll in my hands, I look over and I notice that the person standing across from me is Chris Rock. He’s the only other person around in the entire store and he totally clocked me playing with the Gwen Stefani doll!
Are you serious?

Well, it got me thinking about all the various celebrities who have their own doll. It’s a pretty elite group. I mean, it’s one thing to be famous, but to have a doll…
Yeah, it really takes it to the next level. Let me tell you, it was a long difficult creative process creating those dolls. The outfits are exact replicas of what I wore onstage for the tour… the shit is crazy. Plus, they’d bring all these doll head mock-ups of my face over to my house and I’d be talking about how the eyebrows needed to be thinner…

That has to be one of those moments when you step back for a second and think, My life is insane. This is insane.
Uh-huh. But you know, I was one of those girls who played with Barbies a lot as a kid. A lot. So strangely enough it didn’t feel that weird ot me. It was like a fantasy. The funny thing is that they keep sending them to me, so now I have a bunch of them at my house that I don’t know what to do with. I don’t want people to come over and think I just keep dolls of myself scattered around the house. That would be crazy.

Gwen Stefani talks to Emma Sloley about making fashion in the fast lane.

The court of Gwen Stefani, it has to be said, is not unlike that of a modern-day Marie Antoinette. There are the loyal subjects to consider, stylish types of all fashion bustling around in a controlled frenzy of organizing and delegating. Instead of ladies in-waiting holding fans or champagne glasses, her crew is clutching clipboards and iPhones. There is the room itself, a magnificent high-ceilinged atelier tricked out in black-and-white-striped upholstery, mirrored walls and banquettes running the length of the picture windows (the head quarters for Stefani’s fashion line, L.A.M.B, in New York’s SoHo). And there is Stefani, resplendent amid the chaos in her signature sartorial finery: platinum-blond hair swept back in a slick, immovable ponytail, huge false eyelashes, poppy-red lips and an immaculate all-black outfit, with the pièce de résistance being a pair of towering black and white checkerboard heels. The requisite bling shows up as a diamond necklace spelling out “Stefani,” which swings around her neck. The scene comes complete with an heir apparent, the aptly named Kingston, who runs in at one point to test out his new throne, a black-and-white-striped mini-chair that his mother had made just for him.

It is the day after Stefani’s Spring ‘08 ready-to-wear collection at New York Fashion Week, and the woman of the hour is trying to catch her breath and reflect on the show before plunging back into a hectic tour chedule. She exhales and widens her expressive eyes, made even larger today by dramatic makeup. “I can’t believe it,” she says finally, with a relieved smile. “I feel like it was my most focused show yet. The first few times, I showed everything I had, but this time, I tried to keep all that casual stuff out of my last selection. Doing this collection was all about a return to my roots. The pieces have a really nostalgic feeling. It’s inspiration taken from when I was young: the uniform of my youth – checkers, houndstooth and plaid – clothes I wore when I first discovered who I was as a teen. To [recreate] that look in such an evolved way brought me to tears. Especially when the models first stepped onto the runway.” She laughs. “Then I was like, ‘Get over it!’ ”

Nostalgia, of course, has been a hallmark of Stefani’s style since she first arrived on the scene in 1992 with her band, No Doubt. Back then, she was channeling a So-Cal ska girl and dabbling in reggae sounds – a musical genre and lifestyle that still inspires her. She has often spoken of being influenced by silver-screen sirens from the heyday of Hollywood glamour, from Jean Harlow (whom she played in Martin Scorsese’s 2004 film, The Aviator) to Marilyn Monroe, as well as more contemporary muses such as Debbie Harry. “I’m so into her right now,” she says of the Blondie front woman. “But a lot of the young kids don’t know who she is. It’s incredible how ahead of her time she was, on so many levels.”

Much like the person whom she is most often compared, Madonna, Stefani likes to try on personas like so many gowns from the dress-up box. But in spite of the many homages and references, the Gwen of today seems a creation all of her own.

She’s become adept at juggling the many facets of her fabulous life:singer, actor, designer, mother, wife and, most recently, fragrance designer (her first scent, L, a L.A.M.B Fragrance by Gwen Stefani, bowed in early 2007).

“The simple reason I started L.A.M.B,” Stefani explains, “was to have something really creative in my life other than music. ‘Cause I don’t know what’s going to happen. I want to be prepared for the downfall. You never know. I’m very passionate and I never get tired, but I never thought I was going to get this deep so quickly. And that I was going to be sitting in this showroom overlooking Broadway. I pinch myself everyday, every second.”

This theme of being grateful for her charmed life is something Stefani often comes back to. She credits her mother – who appears in a moody black-and-white photo on Stefani’s inspiration board, along with Sophia Loren, a young Elvis and Priscilla and a beehived Barbra Streisand – with playing a huge role in her talent. She see the clothing line as being “a connection to my mom because we always sewed together.”

Of touring, she says, “It’s awesome. It’s incredible being in a different country every day. It’s my favourite thing about my success – being able to go to China, for instance, and you have this stereotype in your head of what it’s going to be like, and it’s not like that at all. It’s this big eye-opener. You feel like the world is so big, yet so small. We’re all so different, yet the same, and music is so powerful, it transcends any of that.”

When asked which part of the creative process she most enjoys, she answers without hesitation. “It’s really when I first get the initial idea and go to the costume house and get inspiration. And my second favourite part is seeing that come to life in the drawings. Then, the potential for what it can be. It’s the same with music; I’ve always been about the demo, you know what I mean?

In spite of the palpable air of euphoria in the room today, there’s a touch of melancholy about Stefani, which she explains thus: “It’s a big crossroads in my life – [I've] come to the end of a chapter doing these two dance records and having the baby for a year now. This tour’s almost over with, and I’ll never do these kind of songs again.” She laughs a little wryly. “I love being in my tour bubble. I’ll get home and go through my depression phase: ‘Where is everyone and who am I?’ Right now I don’t hold the keys or the money; I just follow the person in front of me and go.”

After her world tour is over, Stefani will – as incessantly reported by People magazine – be busy taking care of baby number 2. Add to that her confirmed return to the studio for an eagerly anticipated No Doubt reunion album – and Stefani is embarking on another round of new beginnings. “I’m so excited about going back,” she gushes, “going home and [recording] with those guys, seeing what we can do together after having a break from each other after all these years.” Somewhere in there, she’ll work on her next perfume – there are five in the pipeline, with one for Harajuku Lovers, her diffusion fashion line. She’ll also spend time with Kingston (Stefani describes motherhood as “Beyond your control of love”) and husband Gavin Rossdale, with whom she seems to have a happy and secure, old-fashioned marriage.

But this regal dame isn’t fazed by the number of things on her plate. “It’s not daunting to me,” she says with a warm smile. “I’m in a rush, but I’m not in a rush like I used to be. I’ve already accomplished everything I wanted to.”

Thanks go to GwenDoll for donating the scans to the No Doubt Scrapbook gallery.

She’s got it all -hit records, a hot clothing line, a new fragrance and a rocker husband who cooks for her. No doubt about it: Gwen Stefani is living it up, especially when she’s just hanging out backstage with baby Kingston. By Jancee Dunn.

At a recent stop of Gwen Stefani’s Sweet Escape tour, the centre of attention is making quite a scene backstage. Shrieks pierce the air. Objects are flying. It’s not Gwen, of course. It’s one-year-old Kingston, happily throwing his toys around the room. The singer has brought her son along and he has adapted admirably to road life. “Although this morning he woke up at six,” she says. “And I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to die right now’. I definitely don’t get enough sleep, but I’d rather spend time with him. I’ve got this extra-fun, amazing little guy who just wants to hang out with me.”

Usually, backstage rooms are fetid and depressing, but not this one. You’d never know it was in Omaha arena, It’s done up in a crisp black and white: the walls are papered with a graphic pattern the chic sofa is black and a huge vase of white lilies sits on the coffee table. Kingston’s adjoining room is decorated with light blue, checked fabric and his crib is piled with a rainbow of stuffed animals.

“I really do have it luxurious out here,” Gwen says happily. As she reclines in a chair, the 27-year-old looks effortlessly glamorous, a Horst photo come to life. She wears a fitted red and blue striped blazer from her L.A.M.B clothing line, dark skinny jeans with a high waist and vertiginous caramel stilettos. Everything about her glows and gleams: her platinum hair gathered in a high ponytail, her ruby manicure, her creamy skin, the jeweled ring on her finger. Today, only two thirds of her family is here: her husband, Brit rocker Gavin Rossdale, who often comes to the shoes, is at home in LA working on a solo album. (The couple recently sold their Los Feliz digs for a Beverly Hills mansion formerly owned by Jennifer Lopez.)

Gwen grins as Kingston spots her visitor and lurches over with a sunny smile. He’s wearing blue trousers and a pink and white checked shirt (“His father bought him that”). A happy child with ginger curls and his mother’s dark eyes, he attempts a wobbly walk. Gwen picks him up and summons the nanny. “We won’t get anything done otherwise,” she says as he begins to wail. “He has always been easy-going and chill, but now he’s going through a real clingy phase.”

The singer turns her attention to a pile of new handbag samples from L.A.M.B. “I’m so excited about these,” she says. Gwen is the girliest girl imaginable. It looks for a moment like she’s going to toss them giddily into the air. She pulls out a green bag with gold studs. “This looks disgusting,” she says (translation: it’s gorgeous). As she rummages through them, US rapper Akon, who is her opening act, wanders in and seizes the green one. “Yo, this is crazy. These bags are so classy, man,” he says. “This is so dope.”

“It’s sick!” Gwen cries. L.A.M.B (named after her mantra “love, angel, music, baby”) launched in 2004 and has grossed $100 million over the past four years. The latest edition to the empire is Gwen’s fragrance, out this month, called L (short for “L.A.M.B” and “love”). A beguilling mixture of rose, lily of the valley and sweet pea (like the one her mother grew in her backyard), the scent was designed to be fresh, clean and feminine. “I wanted to be strict in making sure that I’d really wear it,” she says. “I don’t want to lie and say ‘It’s great’. Same with the clothes – I’m doing it for me.”

And the juggernaut rolls on: soon L.A.M.B will launch denim, watches and shoes. “I never thought I would get in this deep,” Gwen says. “Like, I’m panicked.” It’s all part of a larger plan. Although she continues to crank out such hits as “4 in the Morning”, she’s started designing for the next phase in her life. “I wanted to do something that was more creative but wasn’t music, because I don’t think I can do this forever. I’m already in shock that they let me do music this long,” says the singer, who had her first hit with No Doubt in 1995 (the album Tragic Kingdom sold 16 million copies worldwide).

For Gwen, music and fashion have always been intertwined. She grew up in Anaheim, California, the second of four children. her father Dennis was a Yamaha marketing executive, her mother Patti, a homemaker, who nurtured Gwen’s interest in making clothes. A good Catholic girl, she held on tightly to her femininity, even as she stomped around the stage in Doc Martens. “I’m the girl who would wear baggy jeans but not forget to put on tons of make-up,” she says, recalling her look from the band’s video for “Just a Girl”.

Gwen served as frontwoman for 17 years, seven of which were spent dating band-mate Tony Kanal (their break-up inspired several hits including “Don’t Speak”). In 1995, she met Gavin when No Doubt opened on tour for Bush, the British rock act he fronted. She was instantly smitten and they married seven years later. In 2004, she went solo for the exuberant dance disc Love Angel Music Baby and during the tour, Gwen discovered she was pregnant. She kept her secret from the fans, but as she grew larger and her breath grew shorter, she struggled to change into nine costumes a night. Often, she would burst into tears before going on stage. “It was terrible,” she says. “I was bloated and I just felt so gross.”

But in comparison, this tour has been “shockingly fun”, says the new mother, in no small part because it’s a family affair. Before her shows, she sings lullabies like “Twinkle, Twinkle” to her son as she puts him to bed. “But he sings a lot to himself. He’s just getting into music. he does the whole head-bouncing thing.” She sighs. “I love him so much. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

And because Kingston’s along for the ride, she and Gavin haven’t missed any milestones, though they don’t party like most rock stars. For Mother’s Day, they attend a brunch – complete with ice swans on the buffet table – at the golf resort where they were staying. For Kingston’s first birthday, they celebrated at Otto, a popular haute pizzeria in New York. “My parents flew out and Kingston had pizza; it was really cute,” she says. “My parents live for kids. That’s all they really care about.”

Gwen fully plans on giving her folks more grandchildren. “Obviously I’m in a race to have another, but I don’t want to do it while I’m on tour,” she says. “And I want to do another No Doubt record. But I can’t wait to get pregnant again. It’s so fun and consuming and romantic.” Gavin, she says, has fully embraced fatherhood. “He’s super into being a dad,” she says. He has also mastered another domestic art: “He’s a creative cook. He makes whatever I crave, even when nothing seems to be left in the fridge”.

Cooking is one of the few things she can’t do. “When I was backstage at her LA shows,” recalls Gwen’s longtime friend Vicki Lovine, author of The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy series, “out stepped Gwen looking magnificent – and she’s just nursed the baby! Hello! She’s bigger than life. How about: ‘I can bring home bacon, fry it up in a pan and do it in 7in platforms and nurse a baby in one hand’.” She laughs, “Gwen’s no ordinary human being but she’s a real human being.”

It’s true: even with her incandescent star quality, there’s still something of the nice OC mall girl about Gwen. Her on stage persona is flirty, but it never strays into raunch. “Everyone’s in such a rush to show they’re sexy,” she says. “Anyone can be sexy. We all have the same body parts. It’s pretty boring.” She shrugs. “Life’s not so short that you need to give it all away in five seconds. That was never my thing.”

Instead, she went for more innocent pleasures. As a kid, she would race home from school with her friends, eager to play dress-up. “I’ve always loved beauty. I was the girl who was, like ‘Ask your mum if we can play with clothes and make-up’,” she says. “I could do that for hours. And you know what? I’m doing the same thing now that I was doing when I was ten.”

Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale seem to be bucking the trend for celebrity nano-marriages. So how do they manage it? It’s not easy, Gwen tells Grazia on the eve of her UK tour. You should see her phone bill…

“We see each other here and there,” Gwen Stefani says of her husband of five years, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale. “But we’re always on the phone. He understands what being on the road is like and so he knows how to cheer me up when he senses that I’m tired and a bit down. It would be much tougher to do this if I didn’t have a man like that in my life.” Having been on a grueling world tour for the past six months that has seen her sell out arenas from South America to New Zealand, Gwen know all about coping with long-distance love. In fact, she recently confessed she’s envious of the close relationship the couple’s 15-month son has forged with Gavin, whom she married in a pink and white Galliano dress in 2002. But today she’s in a philosophical mood: “I don’t think it’s any harder for me than it is for any woman who has a career and a family,” she shrugs. “As you get older, you’re better able to balance all the ups and downs and deal with tensions that come between you and your partner.”

And this star couple know about tensions. Their relationship was tested to the limits back in 2004, when it was revealed that Gavin was actually the biological father of his godchild – model Daisy Lowe, now 18. Daisy’s mother Pearl, has claimed Gavin has had no contact with his daughter since the discovery, but Gwen remains tight-lipped and its the only topic she refuses to discuss in interviews. “Gavin and I have had our rough patches,” she concedes, “but now we know how to live together and be together much better. That comes with time, patience and just being there for the other person.”

Time, however, is something Gwen doesn’t have an abundance of right now. Since having Kingston, the 37-year-old has managed to combine breastfeeding with releasing her second solo album, promoting her fashion line L.A.M.B and launching a new perfume – and that’s on top of the sold-out arenas to play. In fact, since she took an extended break from her band, No Doubt, in 2004 to release her debut solo album Love Angel Music Baby, she’s barely stopped.

Although she might appear to be a superwoman in ever present crimson lipstick, Gwen admits that, in her own time, she’s far quieter and more introspective than you might expect. “I think about things very deeply,” she confesses. “I can go through moments when I’m down and a bit despondent and I don’t really know why… My saving grace is having Kingston with me. That grounds me and makes me feel so much more secure, just having him in my arms and seeing him laugh and smile.”

And the good news is that fresh from taking to the catwalk with his mum at New York Fashion Week, the always immaculately dressed Kingston is coming to Britain in a special cot on her tour bus. Indeed, motherhood is the one thing Gwen seems truly in awe of; the one thing, perhaps, that she might be willing to slow down for. “It’s been something I’ve been wanting ever since I was a teenager,” she says. “I’ve always known that one day I would start a family and finally that dream has come true. But you need to be in the right place emotionally and spiritually, we’ve become a family, it’s going to be interesting to see how things evolve from here. I know I want more children, it’s just a question of when really.”

First, Gwen has a tour to finish, before returning to LA to start her next L.A.M.B collection. Inspired by watching her mum make clothes for her as a child, the range is Gwen’s chance to indulge and lifelong passion for fashion that even saw her make her own high-school prom dress. “I’ve always wanted to do something with that side of my creativity, but when music took over my life I wasn’t able to focus on that anymore. But I always tried to find interesting clothes and looks whenever I went on tour or did videos. My fashion line was something I was going to do sooner or later, and finally it came together and sales have been really good. Almost too good – [now] I have to come up with new designs and concepts!”

In the flesh, the star is softer and warmer than in her videos; and she’s not quite so perfect under the heavy make-up she usually performs in – but is somehow prettier for it. Her pancake-flat stomach (she bats away compliments modestly) and long, sinewy limbs catch our attention too – it’s hard to believe she’s had so much as a carbohydrate, let alone a baby. “The best thing about touring is that I’m back to my pre-baby weight!” she laughs. “Last time I was touring I was pregnant and felt horrible on stage. It was very tough. This time it’s much easier. It’s performing in front of thousands of fans one moment, and playing with my little boy the next. Plus, I don’t have to tidy up when I’m staying in all these fabulous hotel suites! This is the life I’ve wanted so I’ve just got to pace myself, conserve my energy when I’m not on stage, and enjoy the journey I’m on.”

Yes, this is a woman who doesn’t intend to waste a second: “I could see myself staying at home playing with Kingston,” she begins, “but after a week, I’d go crazy and wonder why I wasn’t doing something.” She smiles brightly. “I have a fantastic life and I’m never going to complain about how success is a drag. It’s not.” How very refreshing.

She’s got it all -hit records, a hot clothing line, a new fragrance and a rocker husband who cooks for her. No doubt about it: Gwen Stefani is living it up, especially when she’s just hanging out backstage with baby Kingston. By Jancee Dunn.

At a recent stop of Gwen Stefani’s Sweet Escape tour, the centre of attention is making quite a scene backstage. Shrieks pierce the air. Objects are flying. It’s not Gwen, of course. It’s one-year-old Kingston, happily throwing his toys around the room. The singer has brought her son along and he has adapted admirably to road life. “Although this morning he woke up at six,” she says. “And I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to die right now’. I definitely don’t get enough sleep, but I’d rather spend time with him. I’ve got this extra-fun, amazing little guy who just wants to hang out with me.”

Usually, backstage rooms are fetid and depressing, but not this one. You’d never know it was in Omaha arena, It’s done up in a crisp black and white: the walls are papered with a graphic pattern the chic sofa is black and a huge vase of white lilies sits on the coffee table. Kingston’s adjoining room is decorated with light blue, checked fabric and his crib is piled with a rainbow of stuffed animals.

“I really do have it luxurious out here,” Gwen says happily. As she reclines in a chair, the 27-year-old looks effortlessly glamorous, a Horst photo come to life. She wears a fitted red and blue striped blazer from her L.A.M.B clothing line, dark skinny jeans with a high waist and vertiginous caramel stilettos. Everything about her glows and gleams: her platinum hair gathered in a high ponytail, her ruby manicure, her creamy skin, the jeweled ring on her finger. Today, only two thirds of her family is here: her husband, Brit rocker Gavin Rossdale, who often comes to the shoes, is at home in LA working on a solo album. (The couple recently sold their Los Feliz digs for a Beverly Hills mansion formerly owned by Jennifer Lopez.)

Gwen grins as Kingston spots her visitor and lurches over with a sunny smile. He’s wearing blue trousers and a pink and white checked shirt (”His father bought him that”). A happy child with ginger curls and his mother’s dark eyes, he attempts a wobbly walk. Gwen picks him up and summons the nanny. “We won’t get anything done otherwise,” she says as he begins to wail. “He has always been easy-going and chill, but now he’s going through a real clingy phase.”

The singer turns her attention to a pile of new handbag samples from L.A.M.B. “I’m so excited about these,” she says. Gwen is the girliest girl imaginable. It looks for a moment like she’s going to toss them giddily into the air. She pulls out a green bag with gold studs. “This looks disgusting,” she says (translation: it’s gorgeous). As she rummages through them, US rapper Akon, who is her opening act, wanders in and seizes the green one. “Yo, this is crazy. These bags are so classy, man,” he says. “This is so dope.”

“It’s sick!” Gwen cries. L.A.M.B (named after her mantra “love, angel, music, baby”) launched in 2004 and has grossed $100 million over the past four years. The latest edition to the empire is Gwen’s fragrance, out this month, called L (short for “L.A.M.B” and “love”). A beguilling mixture of rose, lily of the valley and sweet pea (like the one her mother grew in her backyard), the scent was designed to be fresh, clean and feminine. “I wanted to be strict in making sure that I’d really wear it,” she says. “I don’t want to lie and say ‘It’s great’. Same with the clothes – I’m doing it for me.”

And the juggernaut rolls on: soon L.A.M.B will launch denim, watches and shoes. “I never thought I would get in this deep,” Gwen says. “Like, I’m panicked.” It’s all part of a larger plan. Although she continues to crank out such hits as “4 in the Morning”, she’s started designing for the next phase in her life. “I wanted to do something that was more creative but wasn’t music, because I don’t think I can do this forever. I’m already in shock that they let me do music this long,” says the singer, who had her first hit with No Doubt in 1995 (the album Tragic Kingdom sold 16 million copies worldwide).

For Gwen, music and fashion have always been intertwined. She grew up in Anaheim, California, the second of four children. her father Dennis was a Yamaha marketing executive, her mother Patti, a homemaker, who nurtured Gwen’s interest in making clothes. A good Catholic girl, she held on tightly to her femininity, even as she stomped around the stage in Doc Martens. “I’m the girl who would wear baggy jeans but not forget to put on tons of make-up,” she says, recalling her look from the band’s video for “Just a Girl”.

Gwen served as frontwoman for 17 years, seven of which were spent dating band-mate Tony Kanal (their break-up inspired several hits including “Don’t Speak”). In 1995, she met Gavin when No Doubt opened on tour for Bush, the British rock act he fronted. She was instantly smitten and they married seven years later. In 2004, she went solo for the exuberant dance disc Love Angel Music Baby and during the tour, Gwen discovered she was pregnant. She kept her secret from the fans, but as she grew larger and her breath grew shorter, she struggled to change into nine costumes a night. Often, she would burst into tears before going on stage. “It was terrible,” she says. “I was bloated and I just felt so gross.”

But in comparison, this tour has been “shockingly fun”, says the new mother, in no small part because it’s a family affair. Before her shows, she sings lullabies like “Twinkle, Twinkle” to her son as she puts him to bed. “But he sings a lot to himself. He’s just getting into music. he does the whole head-bouncing thing.” She sighs. “I love him so much. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

And because Kingston’s along for the ride, she and Gavin haven’t missed any milestones, though they don’t party like most rock stars. For Mother’s Day, they attend a brunch – complete with ice swans on the buffet table – at the golf resort where they were staying. For Kingston’s first birthday, they celebrated at Otto, a popular haute pizzeria in New York. “My parents flew out and Kingston had pizza; it was really cute,” she says. “My parents live for kids. That’s all they really care about.”

Gwen fully plans on giving her folks more grandchildren. “Obviously I’m in a race to have another, but I don’t want to do it while I’m on tour,” she says. “And I want to do another No Doubt record. But I can’t wait to get pregnant again. It’s so fun and consuming and romantic.” Gavin, she says, has fully embraced fatherhood. “He’s super into being a dad,” she says. He has also mastered another domestic art: “He’s a creative cook. He makes whatever I crave, even when nothing seems to be left in the fridge”.

Cooking is one of the few things she can’t do. “When I was backstage at her LA shows,” recalls Gwen’s longtime friend Vicki Lovine, author of The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy series, “out stepped Gwen looking magnificent – and she’s just nursed the baby! Hello! She’s bigger than life. How about: ‘I can bring home bacon, fry it up in a pan and do it in 7in platforms and nurse a baby in one hand’.” She laughs, “Gwen’s no ordinary human being but she’s a real human being.”

It’s true: even with her incandescent star quality, there’s still something of the nice OC mall girl about Gwen. Her on stage persona is flirty, but it never strays into raunch. “Everyone’s in such a rush to show they’re sexy,” she says. “Anyone can be sexy. We all have the same body parts. It’s pretty boring.” She shrugs. “Life’s not so short that you need to give it all away in five seconds. That was never my thing.”

Instead, she went for more innocent pleasures. As a kid, she would race home from school with her friends, eager to play dress-up. “I’ve always loved beauty. I was the girl who was, like ‘Ask your mum if we can play with clothes and make-up’,” she says. “I could do that for hours. And you know what? I’m doing the same thing now that I was doing when I was ten.”