Christina Aguilera Says She Didn’t Quit ‘The Voice’ Because of Gwen Stefani

Christina Aguilera served as a coach on The Voice during the show’s premiere season as well as Seasons 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10, but the singer has made it clear that she has no plans to return to the NBC singing competition.

Speaking to W magazine in a new interview, the “Accelerate” singer made it clear that she didn’t leave the show due to any one person, calling the show a “hamster wheel.”

Aguilera, who originally judged the show alongside Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Cee Lo Green, said that she “felt like things really started to shift and change” over time.

“I signed on to a show where the blind audition element was something interesting, something genuine. After a while, though, you start to see that everyone is good-looking,” she said. “It wasn’t a comfortable place for me to be, where I’m just part of a money-making machine. When I stop believing in something, then it’s like, What am I doing here? I think I did choose to, no pun intended, take a chair for so long and do something very commercial for my little ones. But at a certain point I felt like I’m not even doing them a service by cheating myself and what I’m here to do. They should be seeing Mommy live her best life.”

Aguilera is mom to 10-year-old son Max with ex-husband Jordan Bratman and 3-year-old daughter Summer with fiancé Matt Rutler. The singer left The Voice in 2016, and while rumors suggested her departure was due to the prevalence of Blake Shelton and new judge Gwen Stefani‘s romance, Aguilera insisted that wasn’t the case.

“Oh my God, no!” she said of her reported feud with the No Doubt singer. “No, it never had anything to do with any one person at all. And I actually think it’s really cute Blake and Gwen found love in that chaotic environment.”

She added, “I fought for a long time to get two females in the chairs. And, for a long time, I was just told it wasn’t the demographic. But just know that I was a fighter behind the scenes.”

Aguilera’s goal for the show has since been achieved, with Kelly Clarkson and Alicia Keys serving as coaches during the show’s most recent season alongside Levine and Shelton. The past few seasons have all featured two females, with Clarkson, Keys and Stefani being joined by Jennifer Hudson and Miley Cyrus in various combinations.

Photo Credit: Twitter / @xtina