Gwyneth Paltrow Celebrates 10 Years of Conscious Uncoupling

Marriages may come and go, but conscious uncoupling is forever, as Gwyneth Paltrow knows from hard-earned experience.

Yes, March 25, 2024 marks an entire decade since Paltrow unleashed the little divorce euphemism that could on the world at large, immediately cementing the phrase’s place in the pop culture lexicon when she and ex-husband Chris Martin announced their split. In a post on the then-young Goop website, a joint statement from Paltrow and the Coldplay frontman concluded with an explanation that they “have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and co-parent, we will be able to continue in the same manner.”

And you know what? Looks like they have. Great work, team. The two share two children, Apple, 19, and Moses, 18. Co-parenting? Check. They are also still not a romantic couple anywhere we can see, with Martin now reportedly engaged to actor Dakota Johnson and Paltrow remarried to Brad Falchuk. As a bonus, the exes are still pals, with Paltrow saying Martin is “like a brother” to her. It all seems to be working out really nicely for them.

Of course, any relationship has its ups and downs, and Paltrow’s relationship with the term that she popularized (but did not coin in the first place, as she’s quick to point out) is no different. Soon, the legacy of the phrase will be longer than the 11-year marriage whose end it heralded, in a truly wild bit of timeline.

Just two years after the infamous post, Paltrow said she felt that posting news about her personal life on her work website “sort of wouldn’t be appropriate now.”

Despite that, in April 2023, she said that the memeification of her divorce has an upside: “I definitely did not coin the phrase, but I feel despite us taking quite a lot of shit for it when we first announced that all these years ago, I feel very proud that we were able to, maybe, make some divorces a little bit easier, happier,” she said in an Instagram Stories Q&A session.

And she’s been saying it for years. Let’s set the hot tub time machine to 2016, shall we? Hello, Gwyneth. What’s that you said?

“I honestly think Chris and I have contributed something positive to the culture of divorce.”

And you know what? Her mom, who happens to be Blythe Danner, agrees. She called her daughter’s divorce style “extraordinary,” and it only took her like a year and a half to get it.

In 2017, Gwyneth said she felt that “people are coming around” to the concept, though she did get a little self-dig in, calling it “a dorky term, but it’s very worthwhile. I’m always the person who gets shit at first, but then later people say, ‘Hey, maybe that’s a good idea.’ I don’t mind.”

Next up, let’s see if Gwyneth can make “free-birding” happen. Bless, and may it fly high and far.