Gwyneth Paltrow is still getting used to life as an empty-nester.
On Tuesday, the Goop founder revealed she has been dealing with mixed emotions now that her 20-year-old daughter, Apple, and 18-year-old son, Moses, are both off to college.
“It’s very different,” the Marvel star shared in a video on her Instagram Story. “I have waves of grief and sadness.”
Despite the rollercoaster of emotions, Paltrow has embraced her new normal.
“I am kind of getting back in touch with this part of myself that I haven’t felt like since I was in my 20s before I had kids,” she shared.
The actress said having a “little more space” has allowed her to explore her “imagination.”
“A little more inner space for what I might want to do that day, stuff like that,” she explained. “So, it’s evolving. It’s interesting.”
Paltrow shared similar sentiments during a March 2024 interview with the Sunday Times but admitted it was for the best.
“Your kids are supposed to be, you know, young adults who can achieve and cope and make connections and be resilient,” she shared. “That’s exactly what you want. And that means they leave the house.”
The actress said that motherhood has both “defined” and “fulfilled” her, acting as her “guiding force” for years.
“I observe a lot of my friends who’ve had kids who’ve gone off to college,” she explained. “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.”
Apple is in her third year at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2022, Paltrow compared her daughter moving out to “giving birth,” calling the experience “horrible.”
“It was truly horrifying,” Paltrow told People at the time. “I was sick to my stomach, bursting into tears.”
Meanwhile, Moses graduated high school in May and began classes at Brown University in Rhode Island this fall.
The Oscar winner shares her two children with ex-husband Chris Martin.
Paltrow wed Brad Falchuk two years after her split from the Coldplay frontman.
Like Paltrow, the “Glee” co-creator also has two kids. His daughter, Isabella, began college at Cornell in 2022 while his son, Brody, started his collegiate career at Yale this fall.
With all of their kids out of the house, Paltrow put her Los Angeles mansion on the market for nearly $30 million in June.
Listing agent Lea Porter told the Wall Street Journal the “Iron Man” actress was looking to downsize and no longer needed the 8,000-square-foot home.
Paltrow purchased the eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom manse, which was built in 1950, for $9.95 million in 2012.
The “Shakespeare in Love” star also has houses in Montecito, Calif., and Amagansett, NY.
