Gwyneth Paltrow regretted "not having more kids"
The 52-year-old actress welcome two kids - Apple, 20, and Moses, 18 - with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin before they divorced in 2016 and she has now confessed she use to wish she'd had more children and didn't feel like her family was finally complete until she married second husband Brad Falchuk and become stepmother to his two kids
11 April 2025
During an appearance on her Gooppodcast alongside husband Brad, she explained: "My dad [Bruce Paltrow] used to say the only regret he had in his entire life was not having more kids. And I felt like that for a long time until I got[stepchildren]."
However, Gwyneth admits she regrets not moving in with Brad after they got married - admitting they waited a year because they didn't want to disturb the kids' lives.
She added: "I think at the time, we really felt like we were doing the right thing. We were trying to kind of land the plane very, very gently and slowly and get everybody on board, but I'm not sure that it didn't just prolong that thing of, like, we don't know what we're doing."
Gwyneth also talked about her "tricky" role as a stepmother - insisting her relationships with Brad's kids took a lot of work.
She explained: "Step-parenting is a pretty tricky arena. It requires a great deal of accountability, vulnerability, understanding your triggers - and nothing quite seems to trigger somebody, especially women, like stepmothers.
"What seems to happen every time is the dad is in the middle. The kids are having a hard time understanding and adjusting, they don't want to let go of the family dynamic they had, and the dad is trying to appease both and play both sides.
"And the woman is like: 'Hey! Your kids are having a hard time!' It's very easy to take it personally.
"I think women come in wanting harmony and good intentions, and it's like the dream that it all is like the Brady Bunch and it blends really well. But the truth is, the only place to act out is against the stepmother - because they don't want to push the dad away ...
"I fell into this trap a couple of times of being triggered by a child,' she explained. 'It hits at something so core and so primal, which I think is probably specific to each person.
"But to me, it was: am I lovable? Am I accepted too? It's like my core stuff gets challenged by the child's behaviour. I think a lot of times, the woman can sort of co-create that dynamic."
However, they all worked on their relationships and after several years they're now a happy blended family.
She added: "You get to create something really new and beautiful out of something uncomfortable. I love that everybody in our family had the agency to help co-create what we were doing.
"Of course, like in every storybook, there were good things and there were rocky things - but it's been amazing for me to watch all four kids kind of grow into this and embrace it.
"And it's almost like the payoff is kind of greater when it's your step kid than your own kid. I guess because it's not as natural of a relationship - you're able to create something with this kid that is not your kid, but then becomes one of your kids. "
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