Breakups can be hard for anyone, especially if you work together.

Now Gwen Stefani talks about the difficult breakup and relationship with bassist Tony Kanal in her band No Doubt saying that he was what helped fuel her and make her be more creative.

No Doubt is set to release their first album in over 10 years leading fans to grow increasingly nostalgic for the golden years of the band, The Huffington Post noted. The two dated for seven years, but Kanal ended the relationship in 1994, just before the band started to make it big.

Stefani and Kanal's relationship had definitely taken a toll on the band and vice versa.

"We were on tour for Tragic Kingdom for 28 months," Kanal told The Guardian. We were going through the breakup, and in every interview we were talking about it so we were opening this wound on an hourly basis. It was so brutal but I don't know how we made it through"

But Stefani has found a bright side in that the breakup made her become more creative.

"Before, I was really passive, all I cared about was being in love with my boyfriend," she told The Guardian. "I didn't have any creative power, nothing. I don't know that person any more. But I'd been really bad at school and didn't know what I would do, I just sang in my brother's band [Eric Stefani, who founded the group, left No Doubt after Tragic Kingdom to work on 'The Simpsons.'] But after the breakup I just started writing all these songs and suddenly I was: 'Oh I think I'm really good at this!' "

Stefani married Bush singer Gavin Rosdale in 2000 and the pair have two sons together. She and Kanal have since mended their relationship and collaborated on No Doubt's upcoming album, Push and Shove.

Stefani left the band to focus on her solo work in 2004 but she always envisioned a return to No Doubt.

"It just feels so much more natural being back in this mode," Gwen Stefani told The Guardian about her return to No Doubt. "The solo records allowed me to indulge my girly side but it was never meant to be taken seriously."

Tags: no doubt Gwen Stefani tony kanal