Gwyneth Paltrow is looking back at the impact she made when she used the term, "conscious uncoupling," to refer to her 2014 split from ex-husband Chris Martin.
"I definitely did not coin the phrase, but I feel despite us taking quite a lot of s--- 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 easier, happier," Paltrow, 50, said during a Q&A she had with her fans on her Instagram Stories.
"It makes me feel pretty proud when people come up to me on the street and say, 'Thank you for introducing that concept because, you know, I've become good friends with my ex,' etc," she continued. "So, I'm very happy that we were able to play a small part in that cultural shift."
In 2014, Paltrow announced that she and Martin were separating in a post she shared on the official Goop website.
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The post read, “It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate. We have been working hard for well over a year, some of it together, some of it separated, to see what might have been possible between us, and we have come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate.”
"We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and coparent, we will be able to continue in the same manner," the statement added.
Paltrow and Martin share their two kids, Apple, 18, and Moses, 17, together.
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The couple's separation statement made headlines shortly after it was released, drawing varied reactions online. In a 2020 interview with British Vogue, Paltrow recalled the public's reaction to it and said it was "a strange combination of mockery and anger."
"I was already pretty tattered from what had been a tough year. Frankly, the intensity of the response saw me bury my head in the sand deeper than I ever had in my very public life," she said.
As for how she came up with the term, "conscious uncoupling," Paltrow said she never heard of the phrase before she used it, and frankly to her, "the term sounded a bit full of itself, painfully progressive and hard to swallow."
"It was an idea introduced to us by our therapist, the man who helped us architect our new future," she said.
“I was intrigued, less by the phrase, but by the sentiment,” Paltrow added. “Was there a world where we could break up and not lose everything? Could we be a family, even though we were not a couple? We decided to try."
After Paltrow divorced Martin in 2016, she got married to "American Horror Story" creator Brad Falchuk in 2018.
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