Gwyneth Paltrow is feeling distraught now that her kids are out of the house, experiencing the "grief and sadness" that comes with an empty nest.

The Shakespeare in Love actress is learning how to live at home without her two children, 20-year-old daughter Apple and 18-year-old son Moses, now that they are both off at college, per Page Six. She shared a message to her Instagram Story on Tuesday (October 22) describing the mixed feelings she is experiencing without her kids, whom she shares with Coldplay singer and ex-husband Chris Martin, nearby.

"It's very different," she said. "I have waves of grief and sadness."

Even with all the sadness she feels, it's not been all bad for the 52-year-old Oscar winner.

"I am kind of getting back in touch with this part of myself that I haven't felt like since I was in my 20s before I had kids," she said, adding that she's able to use her "imagination" more to make plans for herself. "A little more inner space for what I might want to do that day, stuff like that. So it's evolving. It's interesting."

The Marvel star previously spoke about the conflicting emotions she would feel with her children leaving home, telling the Sunday Times in March 2024 that parents are supposed to want their kids to "make connections and be resilient" as they leave the nest.

"I observe a lot of my friends who've had kids who've gone off to college," she said. "Your kid... it changes. And, you know, they come home a lot and all that stuff, but it's not quite the same as living under the same roof all the days of the year. So I'm just trying to be open to what that means."

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