At a Hollywood charity event on January 28, 2014. One of the last sightings of the couple.

Gwyneth Paltrow has announced the end of her 11-year marriage to Chris Martin in a post on her lifestyle blog Goop titled “Conscious Uncoupling”,

The actress, 41, and Coldplay lead singer, 37, have two children together. Paltrow insists that, despite their break-up, the pair will continue to amicably co-parent their young children.

“It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate,” Paltrow wrote on her popular website.

“We have been working hard for well over a year, some of it together, some of it separated, to see what might have been possible between us, and we have come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate.

“We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been. We are parents first and foremost, to two incredibly wonderful children and we ask for their and our space and privacy to be respected at this difficult time.

“We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and coparent, we will be able to continue in the same manner.”

The notoriously private pair met in 2002 at a Coldplay concert, hitting it off and getting married a mere year later. Since then, they have rarely been spotted together in public.

Three days ago, Paltrow posted a “no makeup” selfie on Twitter looking carefree and showing no hint of marriage strain.

Full of healing power. #iLoveWater #WorldWaterday @drop4drop http://t.co/EvODRItH0S pic.twitter.com/CzUYMlLqbv

— Gwyneth Paltrow (@GwynethPaltrow) March 22, 2014

Parents to Apple, 9, and Moses, 7, Paltrow and Martin’s marriage has been wracked with rumours of infidelity and conflict.

Tensions came to the forefront at the end of last year, when it was announced that American magazine Vanity Fair would be publishing an “epic takedown” of Paltrow, with new shocking revelations about her private life.

According to reports, Paltrow tried vehemently to get the piece vetoed by asking her powerful friends not to speak with the publication. 

Ultimately, editor Graydon Carter canned the piece, explaining in his February editor’s letter, “The fact is the Gwyneth Paltrow story, the one we ordered up, as delightfully written as it was, is not the one the anti-Gwynethites expect.”

Regardless, the proposed article, and the public’s excited reaction to it, was the first sign that the life of the beautiful Oscar-winner may not be as perfect as it looks from the outside.

The Goop website has crashed following the announcement.