Gwyneth Paltrow admits she's 'grieving' in heartbreaking candid message

Gwyneth Paltrow is bracing herself for a "deep sense of impending grief" as her children prepare to go off to college.

The 51 year old Goop mogul, mother to Apple, 20, and Moses, 18, with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin , 47, and stepmum to husband Brad Falchuk's kids Brody and Isabella, has expressed uncertainty about her future without the daily presence of her kids. For Paltrow, motherhood has been the central aspect of her life and the "guiding force" for the last twenty years.

Both Moses and Brody are set to start university later this year, prompting Paltrow to reflect on the upcoming changes during an interview with The Australian Women's Weekly magazine: "It'll be interesting to see how the morning routine changes with no kids in the house."

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When asked about her feelings regarding the kids leaving home, she shared: "On the one hand incredible sadness. A deep sense of impending grief. On the other hand this is exactly what should be happening. Your kids are supposed to be, you know, young adults who can achieve and cope and make connections and be resilient. That's exactly what you want. And that means they leave the house."

Confronted with whether her emotions are "complicated", the Hollywood star admitted: "Yeah. I've been so defined and so fulfilled by motherhood. It's been kind of the central... it's been like the central kind of... I don't know even how to articulate it! It's like the guiding force. It's what I return to."

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Gwyneth is looking for the "silver linings" and feels "excited" about the new chapter in her life with her children leaving home. The star of Iron Man shared: "I'll let you know. I was talking about this with a friend of mine the other day. As a woman I think we have these very distinct chapters, and you have no idea what these life changes are going to feel like until they happen, right? ".

"You don't know what it feels like to be married until you're married. You don't know what it feels like to lose a parent until you lose a parent. It's like you get a whole new lexicon of feelings and I don't know what it's going to be, but I'm going to try to stay really open, try to find, I don't know, the silver linings."

Previously, Gwyneth admitted that "anxiety" is her biggest worry when it comes to what her children might inherit from her. Answering an Instagram follower's question about the "trait you love most and one you worry most about with your kids", Gwyneth said in a video: "I think my kids both really know themselves very well and that's a trait about them that I both love and admire."

She added: "And I guess one I worry about for both of them is anxiety. This is, as we know, the anxious generation."

She wrapped up by saying: "So that's probably what I worry about."