Gwyneth Paltrow Gets Candid About the 'Grief and Sadness' of Empty Nesting: 'It's Very Different'

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The actress is a mom to daughter Apple, 20 and son Moses, 18, whom she shares with ex-husband Chris Martin

Gwyneth Paltrow is opening up about how her life has shifted since both her kids left the nest.

On Tuesday, Oct. 22, the Goop founder, 51, took part in a Q&A session with followers on her Instagram Stories. With her daughter Apple, 20, and son Moses, 18, — who she shares with ex-husband Chris Martin — both off at college, one fan asks, "How's life as a free bird?"

"Thank you for asking," the actress replies in a video. "It's very different. I have waves of grief and sadness."

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Related: Gwyneth Paltrow Says Her Kids Moses and Apple 'Do Their Own Research' About Products: 'Ahead of the Game'

However, she shares that she's also found positives in her kids being away at college. "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," Paltrow explains. "Like, a little more space and imagination, maybe. A little more inner space for what I might want to do that day, stuff like that."

"So, it's evolving. It's interesting," she adds.

Paltrow participated in another Instagram Stories Q&A in July, where she posted both a sweet snap of herself with Apple and Moses and some thoughts on the traits about them she loves and worries about.

In response to a follower asking Paltrow for her "last photo with Moses," the actress posted a sweet summery photo of herself standing between her two children on a countryside path surrounded by greenery.

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Elsewhere in the Q&A, a fan asked Paltrow to share the "trait you love most and one you worry most about with your kids." The actress posted a video speaking to the camera in response where she began with the trait she loves that she said that her two children share.

"I think my kids both really know themselves very well and that's a trait about them that I both love and admire," she said.

Paltrow continued by revealing which trait she is concerned about with Apple and Moses.

"And I guess one I worry about for both of them is anxiety. This is, as we know, the anxious generation. So that's probably what I worry about," she explained.

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