Final Word: ‘Conscious uncoupling’ and branding your divorce

Whether you’re a high profile Hollywood couple or you’re not even well known enough to be recognized at your corner bar, if you get divorced, people will talk about you.

They will speculate about whose fault it was, who walked away looking better, and whether or not one or the other is dating already. It’s just the way it goes, and it’s sad.

But two high-profile entertainers announced their divorce Tuesday and they didn’t use the words divorce or separation.

They used a completely new word. Two words, actually.
“conscious uncoupling.”

I should mention that the couple is actress Gwyneth Paltrow and singer Chris Martin. They used the term on Paltrow’s website, goop.com.

Conscious uncoupling. It’s the idea that two people who are in a marriage have decided to separate amicably and there is no imbalance of power. None.

But there’s also no love. So they decide to “unmarry” and there is no blame to throw around.

Aside from that, there are two careers at stake. Two careers and two children.

So in doing this, they mutually agree that neither one will say a bad thing about another. Neither will assign blame and they respectfully ask for privacy while they split.

Whether they will get it or not is up for debate. But along with their statement, they issued a mini opinion paper from two mental health experts, asserting that perhaps the reason more of us are getting divorced is simply that we are living longer.

The doctors say that when more years are added to a human’s lifespan, we tend to develop into not one lifelong relationship, but several.

They argue that human beings haven’t been able to fully adapt to our skyrocketing life expectancy, and that our biology and psychology isn’t set up to be with one person for four, five, or six decades.

How about that?

Not only did this famous couple come up with a new term for divorce that sounds NOTHING like divorce, they presented a professionally written position paper to support their split.

Are you buying it?