Gwyneth Paltrow celebrated the “sensitivity and brilliance” of her and Chris Martin’s son, Moses, as he turned 18 .
Paltrow, 51, posted a photo of Moses looking grown up via Instagram on Monday, April 8, writing, “Happy 18th birthday to you, my son. I am so proud of who you are. I love your sensitivity and brilliance and quiet humor. I admire how deep you go into areas that interest you, becoming an expert in synths from the 80’s and the French new wave. I love how much you love the people you love, but also how internal you are. There is such a magnificent world of ideas and harmonies inside that beautiful head of yours.”
She continued, adding that she is “unbelievably proud of the person you are today, as you cross over the threshold into adulthood. I love you more than words can say, @mosesmartin you absolutely kill me. ❤️Mama.”
Paltrow recently opened up about the “impending grief” of sending Moses and her stepson Brody, 17, off to college — and becoming an empty nester alongside her husband, Brad Falchuk. Along with Brody, Falchuk, 53, also shares daughter Isabella, 19, with ex-wife Suzanne Bukinik.
“In the fall Brad and I have boys that will be going off to university,” Paltrow told London’s The Sunday Times in a profile published on March 24. “It’ll be interesting to see how the morning routine changes with no kids in the house.”
She added of the transition: “On the one hand incredible sadness. A deep sense of impending grief. 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.”
Paltrow already experienced this big life change when her oldest child — daughter Apple, 19, whom she also shares with ex-husband Martin, 47 — went off to college in 2022.
“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 exclusively shared with Us Weekly in October 2022. “But I had no idea. It was like the worst heartbreak I’ve ever [felt].”
The Oscar winner added, “I felt like the love of my life broke up with me for weeks. It was terrible.”
This time around, it seems Paltrow is more adjusted to the experience of a child fleeing the nest. She is, however, wondering how she’ll feel without full-time motherhood — which she considers the “central” part of her life.
“I’ve been so defined and so fulfilled by motherhood. It’s been kind of the central … it’s been like the central kind of … I don’t know even how to articulate it!” she told the Sunday Times. “It’s like the guiding force. It’s what I return to. 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.”
Paltrow and Martin exchanged vows in December 2003 before famously “consciously uncoupling” in March 2014 and divorcing in 2016. She married TV writer and producer Falchuk in September 2018.
Paltrow and Martin remain a close-knit unit for their children, and she has praised the Coldplay frontman’s fiancée, Dakota Johnson, whom Martin was first linked to in 2017.
“I just adore her,” Paltrow told Harper’s Bazaar of Johnson, 34, in 2020. “I always start to think of the ampersand sign — what else can you bring in, instead of being resistant to or being made insecure by? There’s so much juice in leaning in to something like that.”
Johnson — who grew up in a blended family herself with mom Melanie Griffith and dad Don Johnson having children from other relationships — has fully embraced her role as stepmom of sorts.
“I love those kids like my life depends on it,” Johnson told Bustle earlier this year. “With all my heart.”
