Gwyneth Paltrow may be a multi-talented entrepreneur and world-famous actress, but at home, she’s just a mom. Paltrow has two children with ex-husband and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, Apple and Moses. Apple Martin, who is the spitting image of her mother, is currently a student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and Moses is about to leave for college himself. Now, the Shakespeare in Love actress is opening up about becoming an empty nester, and how she is preparing for the difficult life transition.
Paltrow has always been candid about her life and changes she’s faced over the years. Whether it’s retiring from acting to focus on her lifestyle brand, Goop, or how she’s navigated a blended family, the Oscar winner has always been honest about how things have impacted her emotionally. This was the same for her next journey, having an empty nest. Paltrow got candid at the In Goop Health Summit about this being incredibly difficult for her, and created somewhat of an identity crisis about her own motherhood. She said (via The Hollywood Reporter):
It’s kind of giving me a nervous breakdown, if I’m honest. I started being like, ‘Oh my God, and I need to quit my job and I need to sell my house and I need to move.’ It’s sort of putting things into turmoil. My identity has been being a mother.
While Apple has been out of the house and at college for a few years now, Moses Martin attending Brown University in the Fall will officially make Paltrow an empty nester. She is married to producer Brad Falchuk who also has two children, who are also both about to leave the nest herself. It’s a lot of change all at once, but thankfully, it seems like Paltrow has a lot of support in her life, saying she is surrounded by many moms who are also currently going through the same thing. She said:
Apple’s going to be 20 in May. So I’ve oriented my whole life around them and their schedules and when school starts. You start to let go in increments when they’re driving themselves around or doing certain things. It is a slower process. I feel really lucky because I have a close group of mom friends and we all raised our kids alongside one another. So we’re kind of in it together.
Having a supportive community is so important when going through any life transition, so it’s good that Paltrow has found solace in a common experience with other moms. While she may have centered her life around her children while they were growing up, it seems like she has found other ways to center herself after stepping away from acting as well. She has fully committed herself to Goop, and doesn’t see herself taking on another acting role, with her last film appearance being Avengers: Endgame.
Maybe with all this empty nesting freetime, she will find it in her to dip her toe into acting somehow. She recently admitted to turning down a number of roles to raise Apple and Moses. Without having such an intense parenting responsibility, she could be convinced to return to the silver screen. She seems firm on turning her back to showbiz, but also said that Robert Downey Jr. could be convincing enough to take on another project. Fans would love to see these two again together, so maybe the Oppenheimer star could work his magic and make this happen. Never say never.
You can see Gwyneth Paltrow’s last big screen acting performance in Avengers: Endgame, which is currently streaming with a Disney+ subscription. You can also see the star open up her entrepreneurial word in The Goop Lab With Gwyneth Paltrow which shows the inner workings of her lifestyle brand, and is now available for Netflix subscribers.