Gwyneth Paltrow reveals how she and Chris Martin decided to ‘consciously uncouple’

She said their answers focused less on the divorce itself and more on the years of tension and strained family relationships that followed. That led Paltrow and Martin, who share daughter Apple and son Moses, to look for a different approach.

They worked with a therapist who introduced them to the concept of “conscious uncoupling”, ultimately committing to putting their children first and remaining a family even though they would no longer be a couple. The arrangement required effort from both of them.

Paltrow recalled that after moving from London to Los Angeles, the family would have Sunday brunch together. On one occasion, when tensions began to rise, she and Martin stepped outside, hugged and agreed to put the disagreement aside before returning to the meal.

Paltrow and Martin announced their separation in 2014, using the phrase “conscious uncoupling”, which quickly became part of popular culture. Their divorce was finalised in 2016, and Paltrow later married Brad Falchuk in 2018. Paltrow has previously acknowledged that the phrase attracted significant criticism.

In January, she revealed that the backlash even contributed to her losing a film role after a distributor reportedly considered her “too hot to touch” following the announcement. More than a decade after their separation, Paltrow continues to describe the decision as an effort to protect her children from the prolonged conflict she had seen divorce create in other families.