IN an interview following the release of Coldplay’s new album, A Head Full Of Dreams, Martin said that he had “lived a lot of life” since the two decided to go their separate ways.
Speaking at a beachfront hotel in Santa Monica, California - just a few miles from the $A13 million house he and his ex-wife bought in Malibu - the singer added that his divorce was “a weird one”.
Since separating from Paltrow, who is the mother of his two children, Apple, 11, and Moses, nine, Martin said that, far from being acrimonious, the two remain close and still spend holidays together with the children.
“So I was with them, and it was just lovely,” he added, recalling a recent trip away.
While Martin stressed that his relationship with his ex-wife remained amicable, his bandmate, Phil Harvey, said that the singer had suffered from a “really bleak period” following the divorce, adding that he had been “in pain and struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel”.
“We were all worried about him - the band, his family. When someone’s really, really low and on their own a lot, as a friend, your mind goes to the worst-case scenario. That period didn’t last for ever, but there was a time when we were all regularly checking in on him, just trying to make sure he wasn’t on his own.”
Adjusting to life outside of marriage, Martin revealed that he has made many lifestyle changes since separating from the Hollywood actress, including giving up vegetarianism for an “If Rocky eats it, I do too” diet.
Joining Martin during the interview, British actor and close friend Simon Pegg said that his friend’s reputation for being a “shoegazing miserabilist” was unfounded, and that he was in fact “really, really silly”.
He added that the singer-songwriter suffered from being too humble and apologetic. “It’s very sweet, but sometimes it’s just like, ‘Chris shut the f*** up and stop apologising’,” he said. “Me and Gwyneth used to go see them live, and he’d start playing some song and go, ‘Sorry about this, we’ve got to play it’, and Gwyneth and I would look at each other and go, ‘For God’s sake, of course you f****** have to - everybody in the audience wants to hear it!’”
