British rocker Gavin Rossdale reveals what keeps his marriage with Gwen Stefani special

May 24 2008 By John Dingwall

ROCKER Gavin Rossdale thinks Gwen Stefani is the perfect wife because she transforms herself into four dream women every week.

The former Bush frontman says Gwen's stunning image changes keeps their relationship fresh.

And as he relaxed at their home in Los Angeles, Gavin, 40, told me he is convinced his marriage to Hollaback Girl star Gwen will last a lifetime despite the 80 per cent divorce rate in the City of Angels.

Gavin said: "The churches should have revolving doors. Even my family have all been married three times each.

"So I always thought, if I was going to get married, I wouldn't mind if I could hack it with someone I really like.

"We enjoy spending time together and Gwen always looks so great. It's like four different women a week coming out of the dressing room. It is fantastic."

Gavin, a Londoner whose middle name is McGregor, also revealed the couple have painted their nursery black, ready for the birth of their second child, who will be a little brother or sister to toddler Kingston.

Despite reports to the contrary, Gavin insisted: "We don't know if it's a boy or a girl.

"We're into the surprise element. Plus we are going to put him in a black room.

"He'll be a goth baby so it doesn't matter if it is a girl or a boy.

"Gwen is doing fantastic. She had a bit of arough start to the pregnancy but is doing great now."

Having attended the birth of Kingston, Gavin says he wouldn't dare miss out this time.

"Whatever I can do to help, I'll do, but the guys get off light," he said. "We get to have the fun, then nip off, and the girls have to carry the physical burden of making a human, which is phenomenal.

"It's more than my life's worth to miss the births of my children. I'd be dodging plates, and frying pans would be flying past my head. I want to be around and supportive and helpful. The first birth was so overwhelming.

"Every day, I am more crazy about Kingston. He'll do something and all over again I can't believe how magic he is.

"This time, I feel a lot more confident. First time around, I hadn't even held a baby for more than three minutes prior to Kingston being born. I didn't even know how to burp him.

"When Kingston was born, the World Cup and Wimbledon were on and, because I was in LA, the matches were at five in the morning.

"So I could wake up and tell Gwen I would take him and that she should get some rest. Then I could sit with him and watch some matches. It was the most thoughtful birth ever."

Meanwhile, Gavin admits he is still coming to terms with the revelation that he is the father of 19-year-old It girl Daisy Lowe.

The rocker had a fling with former Powder singer turned fashion designer Pearl Lowe, while she was living with traveller Bronner Handwerger.

Daisy, who recently replaced Kate Moss as the face of Agent Provocateur lingerie and who is dating Mark Ronson, thought Bronner was her dad until 2004.

It was around that time that reformed drug addict Pearl, who led a hedonistic lifestyle and hung out with Kate Moss, Sadie Frost and Patsy Kensit, demanded Gavin take a DNA paternity test, which proved positive.

In her memoirs, All That Glitters, Pearl, who has three kids to Supergrass rocker Danny Goffey, accused Gavin of trying to dodge the test.

But he won't criticise Pearl and insists he wants to build a relationship with Daisy, who had thought he was her godfather.

"It's not easy," he replied when I asked if he was coming to terms with the very public outing as Daisy's dad. "It's one of those things," he said. "It's life. I had to deal with it, which was unfortunate for Gwen and I because we are private people.

"I didn't want to run and hide. Someone has to take the high ground, not be so attention-grabbing about it and just wait for it all to calm down. But I suppose Pearl and I are polar opposites.

"The relationship with Daisy will be there. It will be lovely when it's not so career-oriented.

"It's not private, but it should be an incredibly private thing between the people involved, yet it gets commented on every day of my life.

"I am the private guy in all this, but Daisy is an incredibly smart and beautiful girl. Things will work themselves out."

Gavin, who has a Scottish mum and English dad, says his turbulent private life has given him much-needed ammunition for his first solo album.

He hopes it will be his most successful record since the mid-Nineties when Bush became the biggest British band in the US.

Their 1994 album Sixteen Stone sold 10 million copies there. But the band split in 2002 and Gavin's subsequent band, Institute, released one album which flopped.

He compares that period to David Bowie's unpopular spell with Tin Machine.

Now he is back with the album Wanderlust, out mid-June.

Gavin said: "The reaction to it is pretty phenomenal, so I am blown away. After Institute, I removed all expectations and thought, 'Let's go down in flames.' "I had this incredible career with Bush, then formed Institute and made this really heavy record to get it out of my system.

"Then I thought, 'Who took the girls away? I want the girls.' So I decided to make a record that could be played any time of the day.

"Having children, you just want to be good for them and inspiring. I think Kingston may even enjoy Institute."

Recording his new album with producer Bob Rock on the Hawaiian island of Maui also gave him a brief holiday from changing Kingston's nappies and playing house husband.

"It made me want to get home quicker from the studio and other times it made me want to run to the studio," he said.

"I felt defiant.

"I have always tried to do my best and connect with what I am thinking and feeling.

"I've always tried to be personal. There are some incredibly vulnerable moments and songs throughout my career.

"Sometimes I had a big blustery sound but it was usually self-obsessive. I've always tried to be the real me."

'It's more than my life's worth to miss the births of my kids. I'd be dodging plates and frying pans'

.dailyrecord