The Voice quickly became a success after it debuted on NBC in 2011, with Carson Daly as host and a group of successful coaches ready to find the next superstar.
Kicking off the first season, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green and Adam Levine filled the coaches’ chairs, each bringing their different expertise to the table. Aguilera and Green left before season 4 and were temporarily replaced by Shakira and Usher. The original judges returned for their chairs in season 5 before leaving again in season 6.
Aguilera briefly appeared as a part-time adviser on season 7 and returned as a coach twice more — for seasons 8 and 10 — officially exiting in 2016. She later referred to the show as an “energy sucker” in her life.
“It became something that I didn’t feel was what I had signed up for in season 1. … You realize it’s not about music. It’s about making good TV moments and massaging a story,” she told Billboard magazine in 2018. “I didn’t get into this business to be a television show host and to be given all these [rules]. … Especially as a female: ‘You can’t wear this, can’t say that.’ I would find myself on that show desperately trying to express myself through clothing or makeup or hair. It was my only kind of outlet.”
Scroll through the gallery below for all the coaches through the years and why they left the show:
