Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for J/P Haitian Relief OrganizationThere's a silver lining to Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's "conscious uncoupling": the actress and the musician have finally remembered why they fell in love with each other more than a decade ago.
"It's been a long and very sentimental year," a source tells E! News exclusively. "Thinking about going in different directions actually brought out the best in them. They discovered a lot of their love again."
The Oscar winner, 41, and the Grammy winner, 37, announced their separation via Paltrow's Goop blog Tuesday. Prior to making the news public, they jetted off to the Bahamas with their two kids.
"The kids are on spring break and they had a family trip planned with other friends for a while," the source says of Apple Martin, 9, and Moses Martin, 7. "The timing worked out to where they knew they were going away, and this was as good a time as any to announce it. They told friends the morning the announcement came out that they were going to make their separation public. People in their circle were surprised but not surprised. There's so much love between them that it's really sad."
In their Goop blog post, the couple promised to remain in each other's lives. "We have come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate," the exes wrote. "We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been."
The separated spouses were sincere about their intentions, as their secret trip proves. Whatever the future holds, they plan to remain amicable. "There's still a lot of love between them. Just last week, Chris walked into the room and was telling Gwyneth how beautiful she looked. He's very sweet and loving to her. That's the confusing and surprising part about their marriage. You can truly tell they love one another. Their lives are just going in different directions," the source tells E! News. "They will continue to do family stuff together, but they both want to be out in the world and be single."