Gwen Stefani is a rock goddess with an edgy sound and style to match, but growing up the Hollaback hitmaker wasn't nearly so free.
The mum-of-three, 50, made some surprising revelations about her upbringing and her music in an Instagram video discussing the story behind her song, Just a Girl.
Gwen confessed her parents were "strict" even when she was an adult and admitted that was "frustrating" for her.
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"I have to really rewind. Like far, far, far back into the past to think of the story behind Just a Girl," she said in the social media video.
"I just literally started songwriting. I didn’t even know that I knew how to song write.
"My parents were quite strict with me and I was living at home even into my twenties and I would have to come home and like, knock on my parents' door, and it was frustrating because I was older. You know what I mean?"
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© Photo: Getty ImagesGwen with her mum Patti
But Gwen went on to reveal this helped inspire the song which would go on to be a smash hit for her band, No Doubt.
"It got me also sort of paranoid about the fact," the singer added. "I can remember thinking 'wow, I’m in a car right now. I’m driving home, it’s like one in the morning and if something did happen to me, I’m quite vulnerable, because I’m a girl'.
"Then you start to think, 'wow, maybe people actually look at me differently because I am a female'.
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© Photo: InstagramGwen and her brother Eric formed No Doubt together
"So I just wanted to write a song to express how I was feeling in that moment and I never in my wildest dreams thought anyone would hear it."
Gwen wasn't born into music royalty although her parents, Dennis and Patti, were big fans of folk music.
She was one of four children who grew up in Fullerton, California and her older brother Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt before he left to become an animator on The Simpsons.
Gwen remains incredibly close to her family.
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