One person unaffected by NBC‘s announcement that Nick Jonas will replace Gwen Stefani in Season 18 of The Voice is Adam Levine, who left the series after 16 consecutive seasons earlier this year. Ahead of the big news, the Maroon 5 frontman shared a racy photo promoting Howard Stern‘s latest memoir, Howard Stern Comes Again.
In the photo, Levine sits back and pretends to sleep on a couch with his eyes closed, with several copies of the shock jock’s book sprawled across his body. He captioned the image with a cheeky caption: “and again and again and again and again.”
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The provocative image was posted when Levine, 40, appeared on the Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM radio show Monday, when he discussed his exit from the singing competition. “I was ready to not be doing it anymore for a little bit,” Levine told Stern. “This was the right time for me to go.”
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Despite rumors that he was frustrated with producers, Levine told Stern that his departure had more to do with spending time with his family.
“At the end of the day, no, that had nothing to do with anything,” he said. “For eight and a half years I was so busy … it was a life-altering experience … I got married, I had two kids, and I wanted to spend time with them.”
Levine also told Ellen DeGeneres on her eponymous daytime talkshow about his decision to leave The Voice, telling the comedian that he misses the competition but is grateful for the break in pace.
“I really do miss it. I love the people that I met and worked with, and you all obviously know how I feel about [fellow coach] Blake [Shelton],” he said during Monday’s episode. “I do miss it but I don’t miss how much I had to work. I was constantly working for so many years — very lucky, very fortunate, very blessed and all that — but to just be able to stop in this moment to spend time with my new young family and just have the greatest time ever. Now I’m a stay-at-home dad. I just stay at home and do very little.”
Levine is dad to daughters Gio Grace, 3, and Dusty Rose, 1, with wife Behati Prinsloo. “I’m obsessed with them,” he told DeGeneres of his kids. “I genuinely just adore them in a way I never knew I could adore any person.”
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC. Stefani will continue coaching throughout the ongoing Season 17 and Jonas will start in spring 2020 during Season 18.
