Gwyneth Paltrow Reveals How Chris Martin Compares to Her Other Exes

Gwyneth Paltrow wishes her exes well—including Chris Martin.

The Oscar winner recently reflected on her past romances and shared how her marriage to the Coldplay singer—with whom she shares daughter Apple Martin, 18, and son Moses Martin, 17—differed from her previous relationships.

"There are certain things that kind of have felt preordained in my life," she explained on the May 3 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast. "My children feel like to me the whole reason I'm on this Earth. And so when I met him, there was a very deep thing there. And I couldn't quite put my finger on it because it felt very different than my other relationships."

Different how, you may ask? "It's not so much that the relationship itself turned out to be healthier than my other relationships," Gwyneth continued. "It's just that I think I had this deep calling on some level. I knew he was going to be the father of my kids, maybe or something. It was a very strong feeling."

Gwyneth—whose exes also include Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck—and Chris' love story began before they even met. As the Iron Man actress explained on the podcast, she became a huge fan of Coldplay after their debut studio album Parachutes was released in 2000. One day, when she was filming a movie in London, Gwyneth heard them playing during a televised broadcast of one of their shows.

"When I heard the music and I had this very powerful reaction to it, I was like, 'This is incredible,'" she recalled. "And I watched their whole thing, and I was like, 'This band is going to be huge.'"

After learning that Coldplay was going to be performing in the U.S., Gwyneth and her friend went to one of their concerts, which sparked romance rumors between her and Chris.

"Because I was there, someone wrote in the newspaper that we were dating," the Shakespeare in Love star remembered. "We had never met, and I was like, 'What?' He's like five years younger than me. And I was like, 'Please. We're not dating. I just went to this thing.' But they kept writing it all summer, all summer, all summer."

That fall, Gwyneth's life changed. Her dad, Bruce Paltrow, died in October 2002. Weeks later, while she was grieving her father's death, she remembered she had tickets to a Coldplay concert. While Gwyneth initially didn't want to go, her friend thought it might be good for her. So, they went. It was there that she met Chris for the first time. 

"Because they had been writing that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, his assistant Vicky—who we still love to this day—she came and said like, 'Oh hi, this is so crazy. Do you want to 'go meet your boyfriend' after the show?'" the Goop mogul explained on the podcast. "So we went backstage and we met. And he was just so sweet. I met him when he was, like, 25, and I had just turned 30. And he was like Tigger the tiger, you know, bouncing around. I really didn't even think we would go out." 

Chris then invited Gwyneth to another performance in Ireland—and though she was hesitant to go, a friend convinced her to attend. 

"I said, 'This is crazy. This kid from Coldplay asked me to go see his concert,'" she shared. "I was like, 'This is nuts. I'm not going.' And she's like, 'Yeah, you've gotta go. This is the first time you've smiled since your dad died.' So I went."

And by 2003, Gwyneth and Chris were married, with the pair welcoming Apple the following year and Moses two years later. However, Gwyneth said that, after a few years, she knew the marriage wouldn't last. And while she said they tried to make their relationship work, they announced in 2014 that they'd decided to "consciously uncouple," with the two finalizing their divorce in 2016. 

Today, they're both in new relationships. Gwyneth is married to Brad Falchuk and Chris is dating Dakota Johnson. However, the Emma alum and the musician have remained on good terms as they continue to co-parent their kids.

"I know my ex-husband was meant to be the father of my children, and I know my current husband is meant to be the person I grow very old with," Gwyneth wrote in a 2022 piece for British Vogue. "Conscious uncoupling lets us recognize those two different loves can coexist and nourish each other."