Gwyneth Paltrow is getting ready to become an empty nester.
In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, the actress discussed how she's preparing to say goodbye to her son Moses, and her husband, Brad Falchuk's son Brody, when they move away for college in the fall. She explained she is intrigued "to see how the morning routine changes with no kids in the house."
"On the one hand [I feel] incredible sadness. A deep sense of impending grief," she shared. "On the other hand, this is exactly what should be happening. Your kids are supposed to be, you know, young adults who can achieve and cope and make connections and be resilient. That’s exactly what you want. And that means they leave the house."
Along with Moses, the "Shakespeare in Love" star shares her daughter Apple, 19, with her ex-husband, Coldplay frontman, Chris Martin.
GWYNETH PALTROW, CHRIS MARTIN LEAD HOLLYWOOD DIVORCEES MAKING FRIENDS WITH EXES' NEW LOVES
Paltrow explained that over the years, she has "been so defined and so fulfilled by motherhood," so much so that she doesn't "know even how to articulate" how it makes her feel.
"It’s like the guiding force. It’s what I return to," she said. "I observe a lot of my friends who’ve had kids who’ve gone off to college. Your kid … it changes. And, you know, they come home a lot and all that stuff, but it’s not quite the same as living under the same roof all the days of the year. So I’m just trying to be open to what that means."
The actress recognizes that with each stage of life comes "a whole new lexicon of feelings" and it's not possible to know what those feelings are going to be until you're facing them.
With that being said, she is trying to search for "the silver linings" of this new phase of her life, anywhere she can find them.
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"Spontaneity! I never really go anywhere or do anything because I want to be around my kids while they live at home," she said. "You know, it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re doing a girls’ weekend here and there,’ and I’m like, ‘F--- no, I have 88 days left of Moses living [with me]’, you know? It’s been basically 20 years of me being beholden to a school calendar — so what will that feel like, to not have that? I don’t know. It’s sort of exciting, in a way, if you let it be. Maybe?"
Paltrow's daughter Apple has already lived away from home for almost two years, having left for college in September 2022.
At the time, the actress told Us Weekly, it "felt like the love of my life broke up with me for weeks," when her daughter moved out, calling the whole experience "terrible."
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"It’s been a major transition. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew it would be hard because Apple and I are so close and were together all the time," Paltrow told the outlet in October 2022. "But I had no idea. It was like the worst heartbreak I’ve ever [felt]."
