Gwyneth Paltrow's Reaction To Daughter Apple Starting College Is Just What You'd Expect

Gwyneth Paltrow and her now-ex, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, became first-time parents in May 2004 when they welcomed daughter Apple Martin. The tot's name attracted a lot of attention, but despite Paltrow's reputation for marching to the beat of her own (presumably self-scented) drum, she revealed that Chris deserves credit for the crunchy moniker. "It sounded so sweet, and it conjured such a lovely picture for me, you know," Paltrow said during an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2004. "Apples are so sweet and they're wholesome, and it's biblical."

Apple and her younger brother, Moses, haven't exactly had a conventional upbringing. In a 2012 Harper's Bazaar interview, Paltrow revealed that the kids learned Spanish and French from their nannies and that she was saving a cache of designer clothing for Apple to wear when she got older. "I was like, I'll bet you anything I'll have a daughter, and she'll be a really cool butch lesbian and be so above clothes, and I got a very clothes-obsessed child. So if she's a lesbian, she's a lipstick lesbian," said the Goop founder. A year later, Paltrow told Harper's Bazaar that her then-9-year-old daughter was getting lessons in how to hand-roll sushi and noshing on meals cooked by an Italian chef at the family's London residence.

So, obviously, the woman who popularized the term "conscious uncoupling" would say something quirky and quotable about sending her look-alike daughter off to college.

Apple Martin has left the nest and embarked upon the next chapter of her life as a college student. In an interview on "CBS This Morning," Gwyneth Paltrow didn't share any details about her 18-year-old daughter's choice of university or field of study, but she did say of the milestone, "I know this sounds nuts, but it feels almost as profound as giving birth."

For the record, Apple's birth wasn't just "profound" — it was also an incredibly harrowing ordeal. Paltrow told ABC News that she experienced an unnamed emergency during her 70-hour labor. "It was a traumatic experience. I won't lie," she said. But for the new mom, meeting her daughter made it all worthwhile. "I came out of it thinking, 'Well, I would have amputated my legs for her.' So that [labor] was nothing," she said.

These days, Paltrow seems to be thinking a lot about Apple's future and who she has become. As far as her interests are concerned, she told People that Apple is a pro at doing makeup and loves fashion. "I'm just like, 'What is this child here to do?" Paltrow said on the "Literally! With Rob Lowe" podcast. "She's so bright and so funny." And in March, Paltrow took to Instagram to praise Apple for shaping her into the person she is now. "This woman gives me hope for the future of sisterhood, and for the future of our planet," she wrote.