Paltrow and Martin 'consciously uncoupled'

Paltrow and Martin 'consciously uncoupled'

LOS ANGELES - Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her rocker husband Chris Martin said they have broken up. Or rather, they have "consciously uncoupled".

The new buzzword became the talk of the Internet on Tuesday after they titled their statement on the split "Conscious Uncoupling".

"It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate," they said on Paltrow's lifestyle website goop.com.

"We have been working hard for well over a year, some of it together, some of it separated, to see what might have been possible between us, and we have come to the conclusion that, while we love each other very much, we will remain separate."

They said that as they "consciously uncouple and co-parent" their daughter Apple, nine, and son Moses, seven, they hoped for privacy.

Internet talk about what could have soured the 11-year union was sidetracked as people started having fun with the term.

On Twitter, a poster asked if that was a new replacement for "irreconcilable differences", which celebrities hide behind when they split up.

"Didn't you learn conscious uncoupling at Space Camp? Something to do with the International Space Station?" went another tweet.

Others started thinking up things they wanted to "consciously uncouple" from, such as "booze, coffee and procrastination", as one post said.

Paltrow, however, did post, below her statement, a 2,000-word essay on "conscious uncoupling" by two Los Angeles-based doctors, Habib Sadeghi and Sherry Sami.

A line in the essay says: "A conscious uncoupling is the ability to understand that every irritation and argument was a signal to look inside ourselves and identify a negative internal object that needed healing."

Paltrow's marriage with the Coldplay frontman has been much speculated about for years, Agence France-Presse reported.

Reports as recently as last month indicated that Martin, a Briton, was unhappy at their move from London to Los Angeles late last year.

Last April, Paltrow told Harper's Bazaar: "We are growing into very similar people. It's cool, it's good. It's not always easy though."

In a June interview, Paltrow, 41, also hinted: "It's hard being married. You go through great times, you go through terrible times. We're the same as any couple.

"I asked my dad once, 'How did you and (Mum) stay married for 33 years?' And he said, 'Well, we never wanted to get divorced at the same time.'

"And I think that's what happens. When two people throw in the towel at the same time, then you break up, but if one person's saying, 'Come on, we can do this,' you carry on."

In another interview, she suggested that managing two artistic temperaments in one household was their biggest challenge.

"Artists are sensitive; there are ups and downs, mood-wise. Musicians need a certain gravitas and focus in order to write," she said.

The couple reportedly met backstage at a Coldplay concert in late 2002, after Martin, now 37, asked an assistant to arrange a meeting with her.

They wed in 2003 in a secret ceremony in California soon after announcing they were expecting their first child together.

Coldplay's first album in three years, Ghost Stories, is due for release in May.

On Monday, Paltrow, who has been guest- starring on Fox's show Glee, shared a peek at the show's 100th episode featuring her disco dancing in a nightclub.


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