Gwyneth Paltrow Reflects on Regretting Separate Living Arrangements with Husband Brad Falchuk Post-2018 Marriage

Newlyweds usually can’t wait to move in together—but Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk famously did the opposite. Now, six years after tying the knot, the actress is admitting she wouldn’t make the same choice again.

On the latest episode of her “Goop” podcast, the couple looked back on their unusual decision to live separately for the first year of their marriage—and how it ended up complicating their family dynamic.

“One thing we did that was maybe a little bit different was, we got married and then didn’t move in together for a year,” Falchuk recalled during their joint appearance. “Would you have done the same thing this time ― again?”

“I don’t think so,” Paltrow admitted. “I mean, 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. What do you think?”

Falchuk agreed that their choice backfired a bit, especially when it came to the kids in their blended family.

“I think it just gives the kids too much power,” he said. “Which is the opposite of what you want to do. You want them to have agency, I think. Again, as you say, don’t be prescriptive. I think them having agency is really important. But power, to actually keep these two adults from living together? I think it made them more uncomfortable and more like, ‘OK, this is not something that is solid.’”

The couple—who wed in 2018 and share four children between them from previous relationships—made headlines at the time for their unconventional approach. While they believed it would help ease their families into the new dynamic, they now see that it may have only delayed the process of truly blending their households.

Paltrow has also been candid in the past about how challenging it was to step into the role of stepparent. “I really like to talk about this because it’s one of my biggest learnings as a human being,” the Oscar winner said at a 2024 conference, according to People. “And my area of growth personally came from the initial difficult relationship I had with my stepkids and now they’re like my kids.”

Though she described that early transition as “really rough,” she said she eventually turned a corner in how she approached it. “It’s almost like you have to embody the spirit of the sun and just give and not expect anything back,” she explained at the time. “I just learned to try to just keep shining like the sun and never keeping score.”