Gwen Stefani tells Elle magazine that being pregnant isn't as easy as some people might think.

"I thought I was going to be one of those Mother Nature girls. I figured, I'll just squeeze it out, 'cause I'm really strong and I work out and stuff."

She was surprised to find herself short of breath and not being able to function at 100 percent before she gave birth to son Kingston Rossdale in May.

"I would be seriously crying before I went onstage," she recalls. "I didn't know how I was going to get through the tour, putting on nine costume changes on a stage in front of 12,000 people every night. And I didn't want people to know (I was pregnant). I didn't want to become the Gwen Freak Circus Show – 'Watch it grow onstage.' "

"Kingston is so chill," says Gwen, 37. "He goes with me everywhere, 'cause I'm still nursing. He's been to every studio in L.A., New York, London. He lives up to his name – total Rasta boy."

"He gives me real balance. You can go 100 miles an hour, but you still have to stop to hang out with him," she says.

She and husband Gavin Rossdale split their time between houses in London and Los Angeles. She also says that they (like most couples) have troubles of their own, "Of course me and Gavin have problems, sometimes. Everyone does. We've been together for over 10 years."

Gwen didn't know that Gavin was the father of a teenager until after they married in 2002. She looks at their realtionship as "This is like, the real deal."

Posted 11:35am EST 01-08-2007