Divorce is an incredibly painful, although common, experience many couples go through. This is why it took the media world by storm when Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin announced their decision to “consciously uncouple” two years ago. It’s officially been five months since they finalized their divorce. But they want you to know they’re still together as family, as Paltrow revealed in an interview for the February issue of InStyle, and I believe this is important.
I’ll put this out there: I’m not the biggest fan of Gwyneth Paltrow. I have nothing personally against her–I admire her work as an actress (I love “Shakespeare in Love,” I admit), and say what you will, but she’s dedicated mom, as well as a successful business entrepreneur. She clearly balances a lot–and I say this knowing she probably has help that many people don’t, but it still takes dedication to be a working mom.
That being said, I strongly disagree with her comments that actresses have it harder than working moms in 9-5 office jobs). I don’t always love her products (Goop is pretty expensive and we can’t all spend $200 on unicorn sex dust to put in your green smoothie every morning). But these things don’t detract from the other, positive stuff she does–like openly talk about her divorce. While it may not seem like a big deal, it is. There’s still a lot of stigma around divorce–as if you failed your family, your relationship–as if you didn’t try hard enough to make it work, to love someone else.
The couple were married 13 years ago and are the parents to two children together, their daughter Apple, 12, and son Moses, 10–which makes sense as to why they’re trying to make it work as best as they can. Paltrow opened up how they’re still close, even if they’re not romantically involved:
“He’s at my house every single day. We have our own lives but we still have our family life.To this day, Chris would take a bullet for me, even though I’m not his wife.”
While it may seem like an eye-roll statement, it’s actually a great example for everyone for any time of relationship, but especially for married and divorced couples. It’s important to remember that just because a marriage doesn’t work out that a friendship can’t either. The Oscar winner and Jewish mom believes that attitude is good for them–and for others–and I can’t disagree with her here.
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