Gwyneth Paltrow stunned by derision over her 'conscious uncoupling' announcement

7/8/2020 6:32

        Gwyneth Paltrow says deciding to split
        with her first husband Chris Martin was painful enough, but
        nothing could have prepared her for the public mockery that
        greeted the announcement of their "conscious uncoupling."
        
        That was the phrase used by the "Shakespeare in Love"
        actress and the Coldplay frontman when they announced in 2014
        that they were separating after 10 years of marriage, but hoped
        to remain close friends.
        
        In an essay in the September issue of British Vogue
        magazine, Paltrow said she knew the celebrity split would get
        attention.
        
        "But I never could have anticipated what came next. The
        public’s surprise gave way quickly to ire and derision. A
        strange combination of mockery and anger that I had never seen,"
        Paltrow wrote. "The intensity of the response saw me bury my
        head in the sand deeper than I ever had in my very public life."
        
        Paltrow, who is also the founder of lifestyle company Goop,
        said the phrase was introduced by the couple's therapist as they
        were working out how to avoid acrimony and stay close despite
        their split.
        
        "Frankly, the term sounded a bit full of itself, painfully
        progressive and hard to swallow. ... I was intrigued, less by
        the phrase, but by the sentiment," she said.
        
        Paltrow, who had two children with Martin, married for a
        second time in 2018 to television producer Brad Falchuk. Martin
        attended the wedding and joined the newlyweds on their
        honeymoon.
        
        She said times have changed in the way people treat their
        breakups.
        
        "Instead of people approaching me with, 'Why did you say
        that?', they now approach me with, 'How do you do that?'," she
        said.