Celebrity Celebrity Relationships Celebrity Breakups Gwyneth Paltrow Remains 'Proud' of Popularizing the Term 'Conscious Uncoupling' 10 Years After Chris Martin Split Back in March 2014, the actress and Chris Martin announced they were "consciously uncoupling" By Benjamin VanHoose Benjamin VanHoose Benjamin VanHoose is an Associate Editor on the Movies team at PEOPLE. He has written about entertainment and breaking news for over five years. People Editorial Guidelines Published on March 25, 2024 07:00AM EDT Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. Photo: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic, Kevin Winter/Getty It's been a decade since Gwyneth Paltrow made "conscious uncoupling" happen. The Oscar winner, 10 years ago, on March 25, 2014, published a message on her Goop website announcing that she and then-husband Chris Martin were breaking up. "It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate," read their joint statement at the time. They added that they came "to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate. We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been." Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's Relationship Timeline Paltrow and Martin's statement concluded with them explaining 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." On Instagram last year, Paltrow, now 51, reflected on the term becoming a topic of conversation. "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 bit easier, happier," she said. She and Martin, 47, share two kids: Apple, 19, and Moses, 17. Paltrow later married husband Brad Falchuk in 2018, and a source recently confirmed to PEOPLE that Martin and Dakota Johnson "got engaged years ago." Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow on Jan. 12, 2014. Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBC In a past essay for British Vogue, Paltrow wrote about how she discovered the term and why she gravitated to it. "I had never heard of the phrase 'conscious uncoupling.' Frankly, the term sounded a bit full of itself, painfully progressive and hard to swallow," she wrote. "It was an idea introduced to us by our therapist, the man who helped us architect our new future. I was intrigued, less by the phrase, but by the sentiment. 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." Gwyneth Paltrow Holds Hands with Ex Chris Martin's Girlfriend Dakota Johnson in Sweet Photo Gwyneth Paltrow. Donato Sardella/Getty Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The actress recalled being nervous to publish the announcement on her Goop website at the time — and she was surprised by the level of response from the public, including a "combination of mockery and anger that I had never seen." However, later, "Conscious uncoupling, separation, divorce — whatever you want to call it — has now permeated the breakup culture. Instead of people approaching me with, 'Why did you say that?' they now approach me with, 'How do you do that?' " In November, Paltrow told PEOPLE that she and Martin remain "family" all these years after their split. She added of divorce, "I think it's such a difficult and personal decision, and when someone really knows that it's not in their highest interest to be in that marriage, I just always say, you want to put your kids first." And about co-parenting with Martin, Paltrow said, "He just has a real sweetness and he brings that to the way that he parents." Close