Gwyneth Paltrow never expected her marriage to Chris Martin to end.
“I never wanted to get divorced,” the 48-year-old actress recently said on the “Anna Faris Is Unqualified” podcast.
Paltrow, who shares 16-year-old daughter Apple and 14-year-old son Moses with Martin, believes that in an ideal world, they would still be together.
“I never wanted to not be married to the father of my kids, theoretically,” she explained, adding, “But I have learned more about myself through that process than I could have imagined.”
Paltrow said she “focused on accountability” following the divorce, which ultimately strengthened her relationship with now-husband Brad Falchuk, whom she married in 2018.
“I was then able to find the most amazing man and build something that I’ve never had before with Brad, my husband,” she gushed.
Paltrow previously shared why she and the 44-year-old Coldplay rocker couldn’t make it as life partners and decided to proceed with a “conscious uncoupling.”
“We were close, though we had never fully settled into being a couple,” she wrote in an essay for Vogue UK published in August 2020. “We just didn’t quite fit together. There was always a bit of unease and unrest.”
Paltrow and Martin married in 2003 and separated in 2014, but their divorce was not finalized until 2016. While the pair remain friends, the “Emma” actress has admitted that co-parenting is not always easy.
“Some days it’s not as good as it looks,” she said in September 2020. “We also have good days and bad days, but I think it’s driving towards the same purpose of unity and love and what’s best for (our kids).”
Martin, for his part, has been dating Dakota Johnson since 2018. The 31-year-old “50 Shades of Grey” actress and Paltrow seem to be on good terms, and have spent time together on several occasions.