Why Blake Shelton Left ‘The Voice’ and When He Could Return

Blake Shelton, one of the OG hosts, has left The Voice.

Between this and Gwen Stefani’s departure from The Voice, the long-running talent series will never be the same again.

Gwen’s husband stepping down from the coaching role where he met his wife has hit fans hard.

Fans want to know why Blake quit … and when, or if, he plans to return.

Blake Shelton has been part of ‘The Voice’ since Day 1

The Voice debuted in 2011, and Blake Shelton was part of the original lineup of coaches. Though he is not quite as famous or successful as his wife, Blake is a big name within the Country music niche, and offered his expertise to contestants.

To date, Blake has had the most wins in The Voice‘s history. He has nine victories, from Seasons 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 13, 18, 20, and 22.

Perhaps Blake is an exemplary coach. Or maybe he just has an eye for picking winners. Either way, that’s an impressive run.

On a more personal level, Blake met his beautiful and talented wife, Gwen Stefani. She joined The Voice as a coach on Season 7, which aired in 2014.

A couple of years later, Gwen told her fellow coaches the heartbreaking story of cheating that ended her marriage. She and Blake bonded over that.

In 2016, Gwen and Blake were dating — which came as a shock to their wildly disparate groups of fans. They became engaged in 2020, and married in July of 2021.

Why did Blake Shelton leave ‘The Voice’ after all of these years?

In may of 2023, Blake Shelton departed The Voice to spend more time with his family.

That family includes not only his beautiful wife, but her three children — who are his three stepchildren.

“I think being a stepdad has changed my perspective in that I’m not the first person that I think about anymore,” Blake explained to Access Hollywood in an interview that you can watch right here.

“Even to the small little things when you go, ‘I think I’ll do this,’ the very next thought is always, ‘Well, wait a minute,” he said.

Blake elaborated, describing thinking: “How’s that going work?’ Or, ‘What will they think?’ Or, ‘How will that affect a schedule?’”  

That is a decent summary of how human being think about scheduling and priorities.

“I think the only way for me to really do that right is to step away from being committed to something like The Voice that demands a lot of your time,” Blake then reasoned.

“There’s no way around it,” he emphasized. “If you’re going to do it and do it right, you have to be 150 percent in.”

Blake acknowledged: “And I just feel like those days are behind me for now. I got a more important job.”  

What Gwen Stefani had to say about Blake Shelton leaving ‘The Voice’

Gwen Stefani explained why Blake Shelton left The Voice in her own interview, with Extra.

“I think that Blake — I don’t know, I think he just wants more time, you know what I mean?” Gwen explained last year.

“I don’t know that people realize, if he’s doing two seasons a year, right? In between that, he’s touring,” Gwen pointed out.

“So he actually has two teams at the same time; at a certain point, they overlap,” Gwen spelled out.

“So it’s a lot of brain power, it’s a lot of time away from the family, those kinds of things,” she elaborated.

“I think he just got to a point where he just wants time in his ranch,” Gwen reasoned. “Like time to just do the other things that he loves to do.” 

Gwen expressed excitement when Blake left ‘The Voice’

“I’m excited for him because we have lives outside of work, and it’s a really good life, it’s really fun, and we have so much fun!” Gwen then raved.

“We have Oklahoma, which is something I never knew I needed and wanted, you know?” she continued. “We planted a garden, we do all kinds of fun stuff.”

Gwen expressed: “So we’re looking forward to doing some of that family stuff together. It’s gonna be great.” 

When will Blake Shelton return to ‘The Voice’ … if at all?

In an interview with People, Blake Shelton hinted that he doesn’t see this as a permanent departure.

“I’m excited to get some time back away from The Voice and concentrate more on, ‘What kind of record do I want to make? Is it going to fit in? Do I care? Do I not care?’ I got a lot to figure out,” he expressed in late 2022.

When some says talks about “time away from,” it usually means that they plan on going back. It sounds like it’s only a matter of time.