Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin separate after a decade of marriage (@YahooCelebrity/Twitter).

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin have decided to separate after 10 years of marriage. The longterm couple announced the split on the actress' lifestyle website Goop in a post titled "Conscious Uncoupling," which has since crashed.

"It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate. We have 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, and we have come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate," read the joint statement.

"We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been. 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 coparent, we will be able to continue in the same manner."

This announcement is particularly surprising considering the "Iron Man" star gushed about her husband to Good Housekeeping magazine last summer, saying that her best decision in life was "to marry my husband."

However, the Oscar winner has also admitted in the past that marriage isn't exactly a walk in the park.

"It's hard being married," she told Glamour UK magazine last spring. "You go through great times, you go through terrible times. We're the same as any couple."

"When two people throw in the towel at the same time, then you break up, but if one person's saying: ‘Come on, we can do this,' you carry on," she continued. "I've learned more about myself by being married than anything else."

Paltrow and the Coldplay frontman have two children together, Apple and Moses.

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