While Gwyneth Paltrow‘s lifestyle empire GOOP, and its mouthpiece, the GOOP podcast, may be known as a place to overshare about anything and everything (the actress and host has not shied away from hawking products such as a candle called “This Smells Like My Vagina”), the well-known star is now dishing on all-things parenting with none-other-than special guest, singer Katy Perry.
On the Jan. 10 episode of her GOOP Podcast, in a statement that some parents may relate to, Paltrow, 50, tells Perry that having young kids will ruin your relationship.
“It’s hard on a relationship. Like, I’ve looked back now on like the data set of parents with young kids and it just … ruins the relationship,” Paltrow jokes. “It’s really hard!”
Perhaps the “data” she is referring to is the stat that about 50% of all American children will witness the end of their parents’ marriage, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Of these children, less than half will go on to see their parents’ second marriages break up, and one in every 10 children will witness three or more parental marriages fail.
In her own life, Paltrow shares daughter Apple, 18, and son Moses, 16, with ex-husband and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.The couple divorced in 2016, and Paltrow is now married to Glee writer/producer Brad Falchuk, who has two teenage children from a previous marriage.
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Meanwhile, Perry shares 2-year-old Daisy Dove with fiancé Orlando Bloom. The “I Kissed a Girl” singer agreed with Paltrow that while kids are hard work and definitely do change a relationship, it doesn’t have to completely destroy your bond as long as you’re both “on the same page.”
“I think if both people in the relationship are willing to do the work, then it’s going to be so much easier,” says Perry. “But, if one person thinks they don’t have any work to do then it’s going to be really challenging.”
While both women lamented about the struggles of parenting young children, they agreed that it’s also very rewarding. “I never felt lonely again after I had [Apple], and I’d felt profoundly lonely in my life,” Platrow shares.
Never one to stray from brutal honesty, Paltrow has also revealed in previous episodes of the GOOP Podcast details of co-parenting her husband’s children, as well as some of her biggest regrets. “If someone asked me for advice on it, I would just say from day one, just really treat them as your kid,” the Oscar-winning actress says. “I just wish I had done that earlier.”
Paltrow states that she was afraid to “love” and “discipline” her stepkids. Still, her husband applauded her for his children’s ability to have a relationship with her “outside of him,” and the fact that they feel comfortable going to her for advice.
