“P.S. CM and I in deep gratitude for the support of so many.”
So said a note that seemed almost throwaway, on the website www.goop.com just a few days ago, following a ditty about not wasting ingredients in the kitchen. Goop is not, as the name might suggest, a website aimed at kids with a penchant for slimy substances they can squeeze through their fingers or smear on walls. Rather, it’s the “weekly publication curated by Gwyneth Paltrow”. And to the left of the page as it stands now, and no doubt as it will be for many months to come, under the “most read today” heading, the most popular story is entitled – yes, you guessed it – “Conscious Uncoupling”.
Already the most spoken about, hated and poked fun of phrase of the year, it relates to Paltrow’s announcement that her marriage with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin was basically over and that they were to remain separated. But that it was OK, really, because they would, like, still be friends and stuff. The only thing that could have made it more sickening for millions of Paltrow detractors would have been a selfie next to the online announcement. To sugar-coat the nastiness of any separation or divorce as a “conscious uncoupling” (a phrase, according to the BBC, she took from her spiritual advisers, Dr Habib Sadeghi and Dr Sherry Sami), they said, was pure Gwyneth Paltrow – shallow new-age nonsense spouted by a woman universally loathed and loved in equal measure. But was it?
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the couple had an "open relationship", quoting "friends" who said that they'd grown apart long ago. Surely such a set-up was the preserve of less clean-cut A-listers.
Gwyneth Paltrow comes from good Hollywood stock. Born in September, 1972, her mother is actress Blythe Danner and her late father was director and producer Bruce Paltrow. Paltrow was born in Los Angeles and raised in Santa Monica, where she went to school before heading over to the private, all-girls Spence School in New York. She spent a year as an exchange student in Spain and, after that, she headed back to the west coast and studied anthropology at the University of California in Santa Barbara, dropping out to start an acting career.
Having her parents in the industry was a help. Her first role was in a 1989 television film called High, which was directed by her father. A year later she made her stage debut. In 1991, she starred in a John Travolta (pre-comeback) vehicle and was cast as a young Wendy Darling in Steven Spielberg's Hook. It wasn't until 1995, however, in Emma, that her star started its ascendance, due in no small part to the perfectly plumb English accent she managed to put on while in character. That year also saw her literally lose her head in David Fincher's darker than molasses Seven, in which she co-starred with Brad Pitt, her squeeze at the time.
In 1998, however, she rocketed to international fame by appearing as one of the two leads in Shakespeare in Love, a film that bagged her a Best Actress Oscar and resulted in one of the most mocked acceptance speeches of all time due to her blubbing, which seemed to last an eternity. But she'd arrived, there was no denying that.
Media scrutiny has never been far from her front door, and for good reason. She was actually engaged to Brad Pitt for three years, but the wedding never happened because, said Paltrow, she just wasn’t ready for it. She was also romantically involved with Ben Affleck for a couple of years – easy fodder for the lower echelons of the press.
While Paltrow is obviously occupying the gossip columns with a story that probably won’t go away until we discover what happened to a certain Malaysian airplane, let’s not forget her husband, Chris Martin. The two met in 2002 backstage at a Coldplay concert and were married a little more than a year later. And, to be fair to the couple, their family life has been played out away from the gaze of the general public. Between them they have two children – a daughter, Apple, who will turn 10 next month and a son, Moses, 8.
According to Paltrow's mother, Martin wrote the song Fix You for her. "I think he met Gwyneth about a week after Bruce died," she said, referring to the death of Paltrow's father. A quick scan of the lyrics reveals the heart-stopping emotive power that must have knocked Paltrow for six at the time: "Tears stream down your face / When you lose something you cannot replace / Tears stream down your face / and I … will fix you." The song appeared three years after it was evidently written, by which time she had fallen for him hook, line and sinker and they'd been married two years.
Christopher Anthony John Martin’s background was entirely different to Paltrow’s. Born on March 2, 1977, in Devon on the south-west coast of England, he’s the oldest of five siblings. His father, Anthony, was an accountant (now retired) and his mother, Alison, a music teacher. While at school in Exeter, he formed his first band, but the reception of anyone who heard them play was pitiful. Undeterred, when Martin left to attend Sherborne School, he formed another band called Bunga, which stayed together for two years. It was in his university days that things really started to come together musically.
Martin studied at University College London and graduated with a first-class honours degree in Greek and Latin. More importantly, it was there he met Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion, with whom he went on to form the terribly named band, Pectoralz. In a wise career move the name was changed, first to Starfish and then Coldplay, which was offered to them by a band that didn’t want the name any more.
A self-funded EP called Safety was released in 1998 and was intended to simply be a demo for record companies. The 500 copies they had pressed did the trick – a recording deal with Parlophone was signed and a debut album proper, Parachutes, materialised in 2000. By the time that album was followed in 2002 by A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay were international superstars. Three years later, Martin was named by Peta as the World's Sexiest Vegetarian – surely there was only one way to go after that.
Despite his often serious public persona and his outspoken political views and activism, Martin can poke fun at himself and is a close friend of comedy actor and writer Simon Pegg. He sent himself up in an episode of Extras, Ricky Gervais's acclaimed comedy series, as a moronic charitable rock star – he had a sense of humour – who knew?
While the children were young, Coldplay continued to write, perform, release and tour, while Paltrow's career was put on the back burner. She did surface now and again, notably for the opening sequence of Goldmember, the Austin Powers film, something that showed she, too, could send herself up. Her recent starring role in Glee should have further silenced critics who said she has no sense of humour. She has also appeared as Pepper Pots in Iron Man and Avengers films, which have been seen by countless millions.
For more than a decade, they had managed to keep things together, be a real couple and family – proof that if the match was right, anyone could make it, no matter what stresses are thrown your way. And now that illusion has been shattered, followed by the inevitable rumour mill that surrounds any celebrity break-up. Martin, for instance, has been linked to actress Kate Bosworth, supermodel Helena Christensen, as well as a former close friend of Paltrow’s, actress Kate Hudson. Bosworth has remained silent regarding the claims, but Hudson and Christensen have both dismissed them as nonsense.
Paltrow’s face has appeared on the front pages of newspapers in recent days. One photograph shows her kissing Donovan Leitch, a former boyfriend, who she was seeing before her relationship with Brad Pitt. Taken months ago, it was, according to Leitch, an innocent expression between good friends.
Whatever happened between them, or the reasons for their split, is nobody’s business but theirs. But it proves how someone who’s been out of the public glare for so long can suddenly be once again thrust under the media microscope.
Just moments after the "conscious uncoupling" was announced, it was revealed that Martin was to join The Voice talent show as an adviser. Also, the couple have been on holiday with the children – all things currently being picked over by websites, columnists and gossipers the world over. Nobody will know for sure just what happened between them, and that's probably for the best. They lasted longer than most famous couplings and, as with most things relating to their relationship and family, it would make a nice change for it to remain private. In this internet age, could that ever be possible?
khackett@thenational.ae
