Gwyneth Paltrow has made a rare admission about being a stepmum, sharing she regretted ‘not having more kids’ until she married her now husband, and became a blended family with his two children.

The Goop founder is mother to Apple, 20, and Moses, 18, with her ex-husband Chris Martin. She married Brad Falchuk, an Emmy-winning TV showrunner, in 2018, and is a step-parent to his daughter Isabella, 20, and son Brody, 18.

But the 52-year-old Oscar-winner opened up about the unique experience of sharing a family – notably alongside her husband, 54, who we rarely hear from – on the latest episode of her podcast, The Goop Podcast. She said, ‘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.

‘In an ideal world, the relationship that you have your kids in works out, and your kids never have to experience divorce or blending families or anything like that. But a lot of times, that’s not the case,’ she said.

‘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,’ she said.

Gwyneth added it took ‘years’ for them all to get to the positive place they’re in now, but that’s really special to see their kids deepening their relationships with each other. ‘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.’

Her podcast dives into health and lifestyle topics including menopause, ‘micro-intentions’ and emotions. In January, she interviewed fellow actress Cameron Diaz on the topic of motherhood and ‘trusting your gut’.

In the most recent episode, Falchuk also shared his view on relationships since his former marriage ended. ‘If for some reason we can’t make this work, you hope you’re with somebody that would eventually have to choose his children or her children over the relationship,’ he said.

‘To say, ‘Look, I don’t know how to get this to work, and they’re really struggling, and we’re doing everything we can. I have to choose them.’

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin separated after a decade of marriage, sharing the news in 2014. In their statement, the pair claimed to be ‘consciously uncoupling’. They finalised their divorce in 2016.

‘I think Chris and I were meant to be together and have our kids,’ Paltrow told the Evening Standard, in 2019. ‘But our relationship is much better like this: friends and co-parents and family.’

Martin has been dating actress Dakota Johnson since 2017 and joined Paltrow and Falchuk shortly after they were married for a family honeymoon over Christmas in 2018. Paltrow called it a ‘very modern honeymoon’.

Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2023, Paltrow said her relationship with Martin had felt extremely different to any previous. ‘When I met him, there was a very deep thing there. And I couldn’t quite put my finger on it because it felt very different than my other relationships.

‘It’s not so much that the relationship itself turned out to be healthier than my other relationships,’ she continued. ‘It’s just that I think I had this deep calling on some level. I knew he was going to be the father of my kids, maybe or something. It was a very strong feeling.’

Their daughter Apple who turned 18 in 2022 made her fashion debut at 2023’s Paris Fashion Week, sat front row at Chanel’s runway show. She made headlines for her society debut at the Le Bal des Débutantes in Paris. But she faced accusations of being a ‘mean girl’, after she was seen stepping into photos of fellow debutante Countess Aliénor Loppin de Montmort. She told Interview Magazine this month the experience ‘discouraged’ her from doing anything in the public eye.