Gwyneth Paltrow talks 'really rough' process of becoming a stepmother to Brad Falchuk's teen children... but says 'now they're like my kids'

Gwyneth Paltrow has candidly discussed the 'really rough' process of becoming a stepmother to her husband Brad Falchuk's children.

Brad shares Isabella, 19, and Brody, 17, with his first wife and fellow TV producer Suzanne Bukinik, whom he was married to from 2002 to 2013.

He and Gwyneth, who first met in 2010, were first linked in 2014, the year Gwyneth announced her separation from her first husband Chris Martin.

Onstage at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for the Visionary Women’s International Women’s Day Summit this week, Gwyneth looked back on the rocky transition.

After asking if there were any other stepmothers in the crowd, the Oscar-winning actress said frankly: 'Yeah, it’s a b****, right, guys?' per Page Six.

Gwyneth Paltrow has candidly discussed the 'really rough' process of becoming a stepmother to her husband Brad Falchuk's children; seen in February

Gwyneth (third from left) and Brad (third from right) are pictured with his children Brody (left) and Isabella (second from left) and her children Apple (right) and Moses (second from right)

Jokes aside, she added: 'No, I actually, I really like to talk about this because it’s one of my biggest learnings as a human being.'

She reflected that 'my area of growth personally came from the initial difficult relationship I had with my step kids and now they’re like my kids.' 

Although she enjoys a warm bond with her stepchildren now, she did not shy away from admitting: 'The path to here was really rough.'

The Royal Tenenbaums actress claimed: 'It’s almost like you have to embody the spirit of the sun and just give and not expect anything back. I just learned to try to just keep shining like the sun and never keeping score.'

Gwyneth shares her own two children - Apple, 19, and Moses, 17 - with her smoldering ex-husband Chris Martin of Coldplay fame. 

When Chris and Gwyneth publicly separated in 2014, Gwyneth inspired widespread mockery by referring to the split as a 'conscious uncoupling.' 

They have remained amicable and Gwyneth is famously even friendly with Chris' much younger paramour Dakota Johnson of Fifty Shades Of Grey fame.

Reports have been swirling this week that Chris and Dakota are engaged, with The Mirror claiming Gwyneth gave her approval to the proposal. 

She reflected that 'my area of growth personally came from the initial difficult relationship I had with my step kids and now they’re like my kids'; pictured with Brad and Brody

Brad and Gwyneth were first linked in 2014, the year Gwyneth announced her separation from her first husband Chris Martin; Gwyneth and Chris are pictured that year

Gwyneth and Brad got married in 2018, she waited a whole year before moving all of the children into the same house together

Meanwhile, Gwyneth and Brad got married in 2018, she waited a whole year before moving all of the children into the same house together. 

'We were just trying to be mindful and give them a little space and not move too quickly,' she explained later on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. 

During an Instagram Q&A last year, she acknowledged that she 'did find it really hard at first' to be a stepmother to Brad's children.

'You know, there's no book on this; nobody tells us what to do - and in fact, all of the existing media around what a stepmother is casts us in this evil, villainous light. So it’s kind of like trying to avoid land mines,' she dished.

'And then you’re going into a family with dynamics. And there’s all kinds of fear around loss and what does this person mean?'

She revealed that 'for myself, the minute I decided, and fully embodied the idea that my step kids were my kids and I love them just as much and I gave them the same rules and boundaries, and just kind of whole-heartedly went for it, then the easier the whole thing got. And now it’s pretty great.'