The Goop Founder Gets Candid About Career Sacrifices, Empty Nesting, And What Apple And Moses Are Doing Now
Gwyneth Paltrow says raising two children on her own was the primary reason her acting career stalled for years, and she has no regrets about making that call.
During a May 27 appearance on the Today show, Paltrow sat down with host Savannah Guthrie and explained the thinking behind her long absence from film sets. The demands of movie production simply did not line up with the realities of solo parenting. As she told Guthrie, acting took a back seat to raising her kids: “I put acting on the back burner largely because I was a single mom and I was raising, you know, two kids, and a lot of times doing a film can take you away from home for weeks or months at a time and hours are not that friendly for taking someone to school or picking them up.”
Paltrow shares daughter Apple, 22, and son Moses, 20, with ex-husband and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Rather than chase roles during those years, she redirected her energy into building Goop, her lifestyle and wellness brand, which kept her professionally active while allowing her to stay present at home.
A Return To The Screen And An Empty Nest
The shift back to acting came when both children headed off to college. Paltrow joked to Guthrie that “everybody abandoned me and went to college,” and she used that moment to re-enter the industry. Her 2025 film Marty Supreme, which co-starred Timothée Chalamet, marked that return. Paltrow told Today, “I jumped back in with two feet and I had the best time.”
The transition to an empty nest has not been emotionally simple, though. Paltrow described the emotional weight of empty nesting in candid terms: “It’s really hard! I really struggled when they all went, and then I thought, ‘I’m good,’ and then in September again I kind of fell off a cliff for the second time.” She noted that Apple graduated from Vanderbilt University just two weeks before the interview, and that her stepdaughter also graduated the following weekend.
What Apple And Moses Are Doing Now
Both of Paltrow’s children are launching careers that echo their family’s creative roots. Apple, who earned a degree in Law, History, and Society from Vanderbilt, is set to co-star in an upcoming Nancy Meyers semi-autobiographical comedy alongside Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Penélope Cruz, and Kieran Culkin. Paltrow told Guthrie she is “really proud” of her daughter and called the opportunity “really thrilling.”
Moses, currently a student at Brown University, is pursuing music through his band People I’ve Met, which recently signed with Interscope Records. “He has an amazing band,” Paltrow said, before adding with clear maternal warmth, “And he’s such a nice boy.”
The Advice She Gives Her Kids
When Guthrie pressed Paltrow on whether she coaches Apple and Moses through the pressures of high-profile careers, the actress kept her guidance grounded. “It’s hard. It’s a difficult road. But it’s worth pursuing if that’s their absolute truth,” she told Today. She also counsels them to avoid reading anything written about themselves, a lesson she clearly learned from her own years in the spotlight.
Paltrow’s candor is a useful reminder that career sacrifices during the parenting years are not failures; they are choices. Her story also reflects something many parents feel but rarely say out loud: that the empty nest, even when it arrives exactly as planned, can still knock you sideways. Watching her children thrive independently is clearly the payoff she was working toward all along.
With Goop expanding to New York City and her acting career back in motion, Paltrow appears to be settling into this new chapter on her own terms, even if it took a second emotional dip in September to get there.
