Blake: Entertainment Tonight

Blake Shelton Talks Marriage Plans With Gwen Stefani: How They'll Break the News 'When It Happens' 

Blake Shelton knows there's a next step in his relationship with Gwen Stefani-- but he's not ready to reveal their marriage plans just yet. 

ET's Nancy O'Dell sat down with the country singer at the Backlot BBQ for IHG Rewards Club Chase Mastercard cardholders on Friday, where he dispelled recent rumors that he and Stefani are heading down the aisle. 

"First of all, the rumors stuff, I'm not gonna sit here and say that it makes me mad. It's funny. I've learned over the years just to take that for what it is," Shelton said, noting that the reports are "complimentary." 

"If I am somehow, and Gwen is somehow, newsworthy enough that they have to make up stories about us just to have something to say, then I guess that's a good problem to have," he reasoned. "You know, I gotta say that we couldn't be happier, and we've never been doing better."

The 43-year-old singer continued, explaining that after over three years of dating, their bond "gets stronger every day." "Obviously, that's gotta lead somewhere, but I promise you, we won't break the news in any of the grocery store trash magazines," he shared, before speaking directly to O'Dell. "When it happens, you'll hear about it from somebody like you. Maybe even you, exclusively. You're credible. You're incredible, and you're credible."

Shelton and Stefani, who will both appear as coaches on season 17 of The Voice, couldn't be more supportive of each other. She and her sons -- 13-year-old Kingston, 10-year-old Zuma and 5-year-old Apollo -- recently walked the red carpet with Shelton at the premiere of his movie, UglyDolls, in April. Last week, Stefani called Shelton her "favorite human" in a touching birthday post.

"She's never not been supportive or a cheerleader, just the most encouraging person I've ever had in my life, on any level. It's unbelievable how supportive she is," Shelton raved. "I tell her this all the time, and she doesn't realize it, but Gwen's one of these people that I learn so much from, because no matter what the situation is, she has a way of looking at something from every angle possible, and understanding if there's turmoil or something going on, instead of just jumping to conclusions or reacting, it's, 'Well, here's why they may feel that way.'" 

"I've learned a lot from her -- to not be so reactive as I used to be. She's definitely helped to calm me down, for sure," he added. 

The singer couldn't be more excited about another collaboration, however -- his duet with Garth Brooks. Brooks exclusively shared the news of their new song, "Dive Bar," with ET earlier this month. The legendary singer said that after seeing Shelton perform at the ACM Awards, he knew they had to duet.  

"I guess it was the next day, or maybe two days after the awards, my manager texts me and said, 'Hey, Garth wants to call you, is cool for me to give him your number?' And I said, 'Yes, of course! What does Garth wanna talk to me for?' It's crazy. And sure enough, a few minutes later, we got on the phone," Shelton said, revealing that the memory sticks out to him because it was during turkey season, and we was looking forward to the hunt. "It was kind of weird, I wasn't sure why he was calling me, because we talked about the possibility of maybe going out to dinner one night, and catching up."

"He mentioned the ACM performance. He said, 'Man, I don't know if you meant it or not, and if you didn't, don't tell me, but it really looked like you sunk your teeth into that performance the other night. It moved me.' And I told him, I said, 'Garth, you may have mistaken my desperation to just hit those notes as passion,'" he continued. "Of course, we laughed about it, and at the end of the conversation, he said, 'Well, man, I got a song, and I wanted to see what you think about it and maybe we could worth together on it. ' And the rest is history now."

While Shelton loved working with Brooks, he joked he's a little more apprehensive about performing the song live with him. "That's the scary thing about performing live with Garth -- you don't know if you're gonna be swinging in on a ladder or if you're flying in on a wire. I hope he knows that I probably exceed any weight limit on any of those tricks, and he needs to just let me walk out there and sing," he cracked.