Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin split after ten years of marriage

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are to separate after more than ten years of marriage, the couple has announced in a joint statement.

Gwyneth Paltrow, 41, and Chris Martin, 37, announced the split on her blog in a post titled Conscious Uncoupling.

“It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate,” they wrote.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin, who married in December 2003, have two children – Apple, 9, and Moses, 7.

A spokeswoman for Chris Martin confirmed the split, the Associated Press news agency reported.

In the message on Gwyneth Paltrow’ blog on the website Goop.com, the couple said they had “come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much, we will remain separate”.

The couple said they had been “working hard for well over a year, some of it together, some of it separated, to see what might have been possible between us”.

“We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been,” they wrote.

“We are parents first and foremost, to two incredibly wonderful children and we ask for their and our space and privacy to be respected at this difficult time.

“We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and co-parent, we will be able to continue in the same manner.”

Within minutes of the message being posted, the website crashed as readers attempted to visit the site.

The statement was also accompanied by a photograph of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, as well as advice on marriage, divorce and spiritualism from two doctors.

In a lengthy essay titled On Conscious Uncoupling, Dr. Habib Sadeghi and Dr. Sherry Sami wrote about divorce as “a traumatic and difficult decision for all parties involved”.

“By choosing to handle your uncoupling in a conscious way, regardless of what’s happening with your spouse, you’ll see that although it looks like everything is coming apart; it’s actually all coming back together,” they concluded.

The announcement comes after Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin moved to Los Angeles last year, having previously lived in London.