Gwyneth Paltrow opened up about navigating her role as a stepmom.
During the Visionary Women’s International Women’s Day Summit at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Wednesday, March 6, Paltrow, 51, asked the audience whether there were any stepmothers in attendance.
When the crowd erupted into a brief applause, she said, “Yeah, it’s a bitch, right, guys? No, I actually, I really like to talk about this because it’s one of my biggest learnings as a human being. And my area of growth personally came from the initial difficult relationship I had with my stepkids, and now they’re like my kids.”
While Paltrow said she loves her stepchildren, she noted “the path to here was really rough.”
As for taking on the role of a stepparent, she added, “It’s almost like you have to embody the spirit of the sun and just give and not expect anything back. I just learned to try to just keep shining like the sun and never keeping score.”
Paltrow shares daughter Apple, 19, and son Moses, 17, with ex-husband Chris Martin, as well as stepchildren Isabella, 19, and Brody, 17, with husband Brad Falchuk. (Paltrow and Martin, 47, announced they were “consciously uncoupled” in 2014 and finalized their divorce in 2016.)
She previously got candid about her “two beautiful stepchildren” during an episode of “The Goop Podcast” where she explained she didn’t know how to approach her role.
“When I became a stepmother, when I knew I was going to become a stepmother, I was like, ‘S–t, I have no idea how to do this. There’s nothing to read. What do I do? Where do I step in? Where do I not? How do I do this?’” she said.
While there have been “challenges,” Paltrow added that she has “learned so much about [herself] through the process.”
Paltrow and Falchuk, 53, exchanged vows in 2018. In an effort to be aware of their kids, the couple transitioned slowly as newlyweds and didn’t move in together right away.
“We were just trying to be mindful and give them a little space and not move too quickly,” Paltrow explained during an October 2019 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! “Less merging originally, but now we’re merged.”
While Paltrow has moved on with Falchuk, the Coldplay vocalist has been in a relationship with Dakota Johnson since 2017.
The Madame Web actress made headlines earlier this month when she gushed about Martin and Paltrow’s children, saying, “I love those kids like my life depends on it. With all my heart.”
