Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin wanted to 'stay a family' after split

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin were determined to "stay a family" after they divorced.

The Marty Supreme actress and the Coldplay frontman - who have children Apple, 22, and 20-year-old Moses together - caused a sensation when they used the phrase "conscious uncoupling" when they announced their marriage was over in 2014, and the 53-year-old star has now explained the origins of the viral term and how she and the Yellow hitmaker had sought expert help on how to make the transition as smooth as possible for their kids.

Speaking on the Friends Keep Secrets podcast, she said: “We really sat down and thought, like, is there a way that we could do this?

“I talked to all my friends who came from a divorced household and I said, ‘Tell me what was the worst thing? Like, what do you feel you have scars from to this day?’”

Gwyneth was surprised to learn it was less about the actual split but more about growing up amid friction between the family that lasted for years.

She continued: “They said the worst part was like my parents, you know, my dad used to drop me off at the end of the driveway. Like it was so tense at my birthday parties, you know, they never ate dinner in the same room until my college graduation, and it caused me so much pain. So I was like, how could we not do that?”

The Iron Man star wanted her kids to grow up in a situation where “you’re all having dinner at the same table” after a graduation, and so she and Chris consulted a therapist.

She added: “So Chris and I had this therapist that was really brilliant, and he sort of introduced us to the concept and we just made a commitment to really put the kids first and so what that meant was to stay a family even though we weren’t a couple."

However, the Goop founder admitted things weren't always easy and while they committed to have brunch as a family of four every Sunday when they left London for Los Angeles, there was one particular occasion Gwyneth felt “might go really off the rails.”

She recalled: “It was getting tense and we looked at each other and we went outside on the front porch and we’re like, ‘Let’s just not. Let’s just, you know, let’s just not,’ and we just hugged and we were like, ‘Okay, fist bumped and then we went to brunch,” she said.

Gwyneth - who is now married to Brad Falchuk - previously claimed she was fired from a movie because of the negative impact of the "conscious uncoupling" phrase.

She told Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast earlier this year: “I was supposed to do a movie at one point and it was like right after the conscious uncoupling thing with Chris, and there was a lot of harsh stuff in the press.

“So that was great because I was getting a divorce and then I got fired. So it was so awesome.”