Gwyneth Paltrow has said she wanted to “reinvent” divorce after splitting with former husband Chris Martin.
The Hollywood actress and the Coldplay frontman were ridiculed for describing their parting of ways as a “conscious uncoupling”.
The couple, who have two children together, broke up in 2014 after a decade of marriage.
Speaking on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Paltrow said she wanted to change perceptions of divorce.
She said: “I just thought, ‘I wonder if there’s a way to circumvent that and just go directly to the point where we’re friends’. We’re family, that’s it. ‘We can pretend we’re not, and hate each other… or, let’s try to reinvent this for ourselves’.”
US actress Paltrow, 46, married Devon-born Martin, 42, in 2003 and their divorce was finalised in 2016.
Paltrow – who as well as her acting career is known for her lifestyle brand Goop – said she did not expect the backlash from the “conscious uncoupling” statement and that it added to the pain of the split.
She said: “I was in a lot of pain. It was so difficult. It felt like such a failure to me. It was so hard and I was so worried about my kids. Then there was this whole other layer of the world turning on us.”
Paltrow added: “Sometimes I’ve said things and it’s been too early in the culture, or whatever.”
Since divorcing Martin, Paltrow has remarried and tied the knot with TV producer Brad Falchuk in September 2018.
She has remained close friends with her former husband and brought him along on her honeymoon with Falchuk.