Gwyneth Paltrow experiencing 'grief and sadness' as kids with Chris Martin move out

Gwyneth Paltrow says she's having a difficult time transitioning away from being in full-time mom mode.

The actress turned entrepreneur sent her youngest child with her ex-husband, Coldplay rocker Chris Martin, off to college this fall.

As part of an Instagram Q&A with followers, Paltrow spoke about being an empty nester, calling the experience "very different" than what she's been accustomed to for the last 20 years.

GWYNETH PALTROW ADMITS SHE PASSED ON ‘A LOT’ OF BIG HOLLYWOOD ROLES TO RAISE HER KIDS

Both of Gwyneth Paltrow's children, Apple, 20, and Moses, 18, are out of the house. (Gwyneth Paltrow Instagram)

"I have waves of kind of grief and sadness," she admitted of her children being out of the home. "And also I am kind of getting back in touch with this part of myself that I haven't felt like since I was in my 20s, before I had kids."

Paltrow started her family with Martin in 2004 with the birth of their daughter, Apple. Paltrow was pregnant at the time of their 2003 Santa Barbara Courthouse wedding. They welcomed their son, Moses, in 2006, and divorced in 2016.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin married in 2003 and welcomed their first child, daughter Apple, the following year. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for J/P Haitian Relief Organization)

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"I have waves of kind of grief and sadness."

— Gwyneth Paltrow

"[I have a] little more space and imagination, maybe? [A] little more inner space for like, what I might wanna do that day, and stuff like that. So, it's evolving. It's interesting," she said of the experience. 

Paltrow recorded her responses from New York City, where she's currently filming the upcoming flick "Marty Supreme" with Timothée Chalamet. 

Gwyneth Paltrow and Timothée Chalamet kiss on the set of their movie "Marty Supreme," as they film in New York City. (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images)

Paltrow has been "semi-retired" from the acting world for several years, crediting a lack of interest and motherhood as reasons to leave the craft. At 26, Paltrow had already won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Viola de Lesseps in "Shakespeare In Love." A decade later, she launched her wellness newsletter Goop, which materialized into the burgeoning lifestyle brand it is today.

"I think that when you hit the bull's-eye when you're 26 years old and you're a metrics-driven person who, frankly, doesn't love acting that much as it turns out… I sort of felt like, ‘Well, now who am I supposed to be? Like, what am I? What am I driving toward?’" she told Bruce Bozzi on his podcast in 2020.

Gwyneth Paltrow says "the shine of acting wore off" for her, which played a part in her "semi-retiring." (Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)

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"Part of the shine of acting wore off, you know, being in such intense public scrutiny, being a kid who's like living every breakup on every headline, like being criticized for everything you do, say and wear," Paltrow explained. "It's so transitory. You're always all over. It's hard to plant roots. I'm such a homebody."

"If you compound those things with the fact that like, you know, to be totally candid, I had a really rough boss for most of my movie career at Miramax," she said, referencing disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, "You’re like, ‘I don’t know if this is really my calling.' So I'm still trying to parse out what came from what and… how my life changed course."

Gwyneth Paltrow stepped away from the acting world to prioritize motherhood. (Gwyneth Paltrow Instagram)

But Paltrow also wanted to focus on being a mother. 

"I really stepped away from acting when Apple was born," Paltrow told People in 2023. "The last time I was in every scene of a movie was when I was pregnant with her," she admitted. "When I had her, it just, everything felt redefined for me, and I thought, 'I'm not sure that I want to do this so much as a career. I definitely don't want to … I'm not going to go away for months on end.'"

Both Apple and Moses are now in college – Vanderbilt University and Brown University, respectively. Paltrow's husband, Brad Falchuk, sent his youngest child off to college this fall, too.

Caroline Thayer is an entertainment writer. Follow Caroline Thayer on Twitter at @carolinejthayer and LinkedIn. Story tips can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..