Gwyneth Paltrow is currently in a legal battle over a skiing accident that occurred in 2016, where the other party of the accident, Terry Sanderson, is seeking $300,000 in damages to his physical and mental health, per Fox News.
The trial began last Tuesday, and Paltrow’s attorney, Stephen Owens, mentioned her family’s involvement in his opening argument for the case.
Gwyneth married Brad Falchuck in 2018, creating a blended family consisting of her two children, Apple and Moses, whom she shares with ex Chris Martin, and Falchuck’s children, Isabella and Brody, whom he shares with ex Suzanne Bukinik.
Having started dating in 2014, this ski trip marked the first trip the couple took with Gwyneth’s children, thus the first time they began experimenting with their blended families, according to Owens.
“And [Falchuk] has kids the exact same age as Gwyneth’s daughter and son,” Owens stated, adding that the trip was “a sentimental issue” for Paltrow as she was intending for her children to learn to ski from this experience.
“And this was really their first trip to sort of have a mixed, see-if-this-might-work,” Owens continued. “So it was a special time and it was a lovely day.”
Despite the overwhelming media attention this trial has been receiving as of late, we can take a look at how Gwyneth has handled incorporating a blended family lifestyle into her second marriage.
Both Gwyneth and Brad had previous marriages that were relatively long-lasting – Brad and Suzanne’s lasting 19 years and Gwyneth and Chris’ lasting 13. They initially met in 2010 before secretly dating in 2014, after Brad had finalized his divorce and Gwyneth was already separated from the Coldplay frontman.
They married four years later, but still didn’t live with each other, as they wanted to give their families enough time to adjust, especially their kids.
In 2019, a year into their marriage, Paltrow talked with InStyle about their decision to wait to be roommates.
“Married life has been really good. We took a year to let everybody [in the family] take it in and let the dust settle. And now we’re moving in together this month,” Paltrow said at the time. “I adore my husband. He’s brilliant and deeply kind. I feel like he’s a real equal too. And he pushes me in the best ways. I really like being married. It’s fun.”
She revealed that they began only living with each other four days a week in the beginning.
More recently, in 2021, she opened up on The goop Podcast about what it has been like being a stepmother, something she was never familiar with before.
“I have two beautiful stepchildren, who are the same age as mine,” she told Gabrielle Union on her podcast. “It’s funny because when I became a stepmother, when I knew I was going to become a stepmother, I was like, ‘S–t, I have no idea how to do this. There’s nothing to read. What do I do? Where do I step in? Where do I not? Like, how do I do this?’”
But as is the case with most lifestyle changes, the only real way to learn what to do is to just go for it and learn on the way.
“It’s been a really interesting challenge for me and I love them,” she continued. “I’ve learned so much about myself through the process.”
The trial is currently ongoing and it’s going to be tough for either party to provide much concrete evidence to support either of their claims. It’ll be interesting to see how the case unfolds in the near future.
Sources:
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/gwyneth-paltrow-ski-crash-trial-biggest-bombshells
https://people.com/parents/gwyneth-paltrow-on-being-stepmom-husband-brad-falchuk-kids/
