Gwyneth Paltrow Says Becoming an Empty Nester Is ‘Kind of Giving Me a Nervous Breakdown’

Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t looking forward to officially becoming an empty nester when both her kids head to college.

“It’s kind of giving me a nervous breakdown,” Paltrow, 51, said at her recent In Goop Health Summit in Carlsbad, California. “If I’m honest, I started being like, ‘Oh, my God, and I need to quit my job and I need to sell my house and I need to move.’ It’s sort of putting things into turmoil.”

The actress shares her daughter, Apple, 19, and son Moses, 18, with her ex-husband, Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. Paltrow is also stepmother to husband Brad Falchuk’s children from a prior relationship, Isabella, 19, and Brody, 17.

Since launching her Goop lifestyle company in 2008, Paltrow has bolstered her acclaimed acting career with being a successful entrepreneur. However, her kids have always been her first priority.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Cutest Photos With Daughter Apple and Son Moses: Family Album

“My identity has been being a mother. Apple’s going to be 20 in May. So I’ve oriented my whole life around them and their schedules and when school starts,” she continued. “You start to let go in increments when they’re driving themselves around or doing certain things. It is a slower process. I feel really lucky because I have a close group of mom friends, and we all raised our kids alongside one another. So we’re kind of in it together.”

The Shakespeare In Love actress also said that she is leaning on professional advice to adjust to her children growing up.

“Psychologist-astrologist Jennifer Freed said, ‘I would like you to think of it as being free birds instead of having an empty nest,” Paltrow told the audience at her summit. “And that resonates. Instead of creating a sense of loss, what if I were free? And I could say yes to a girls weekend, because I didn’t feel guilty.”

Moses is set to begin classes at Brown University this year. Paltrow previously experienced one of her babies leaving the nest when Apple left for Vanderbilt University in fall 2022.

Celebrity Moms Who Disappeared or Retired From Hollywood After Having Kids

“It’s been a major transition. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew it would be hard because Apple and I are so close and were together all the time,” Paltrow exclusively shared with Us Weekly in October 2022. “But I had no idea. It was like the worst heartbreak I’ve ever [felt].”

Earlier this month, Paltrow revealed that she’s turned down several acting roles throughout her career to focus on her children.

“There were a lot,” she said on the Wednesday, April 17, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “I mean, it’s funny because it didn’t feel like a sacrifice to me at the time, but if I look back at it through a cultural lens, I think like, ‘Wow, if people know that I didn’t do this movie or that movie, they’d be quite shocked.’”