Gwyneth Paltrow Remains 'Proud' of Popularizing the Term 'Conscious Uncoupling' 10 Years After Chris Martin Split

Mar. 15, 2025

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin.Photo:Taylor Hill/FilmMagic, Kevin Winter/Getty

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic, Kevin Winter/Getty

It’s been a decade sinceGwyneth Paltrowmade “conscious uncoupling” happen.

The Oscar winner, 10 years ago, on March 25, 2014, published amessageon her Goop websiteannouncing that she and then-husband Chris Martin were breaking up.

“It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate,” read their joint statement at the time.

They added that they came “to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate. We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been.”

Paltrow and Martin’s statement concluded with them explaining they “have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and co-parent, we will be able to continue in the same manner.”

On Instagram last year, Paltrow, now 51, reflected on the term becoming a topic of conversation.

“I definitely did not coin the phrase, but I feel despite us taking quite a lot of s— for it when we first announced that all these years ago, Ifeel very proud that we were able to, maybe, make some divorcesa little bit easier, happier,” she said.

She and Martin, 47, sharetwo kids: Apple, 19, and Moses, 17. Paltrow later married husband Brad Falchuk in 2018, and a source recently confirmed to PEOPLE thatMartin and Dakota Johnson “got engaged years ago.”

Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow on Jan. 12, 2014.Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBC

Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBC

In a pastessay for BritishVogue, Paltrow wrote about how she discovered the term and why she gravitated to it.

“I had never heard of the phrase ‘conscious uncoupling.’ Frankly, the term sounded a bit full of itself, painfully progressive and hard to swallow,” she wrote.

Gwyneth Paltrow.Donato Sardella/Getty

Donato Sardella/Getty

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However, later, “Conscious uncoupling, separation, divorce — whatever you want to call it — has now permeated the breakup culture. Instead of people approaching me with, ‘Why did you say that?’ they now approach me with, ‘How do you do that?’ "

In November,Paltrow told PEOPLE that she and Martinremain “family” all these years after their split.

She added of divorce, “I think it’s such a difficult and personal decision, and when someone really knows that it’s not in their highest interest to be in that marriage, I just always say, you want to put your kids first.” And about co-parenting with Martin, Paltrow said, “He just has a real sweetness and he brings that to the way that he parents.”

source: people.com