One month after his dramatic split from actress Gwyneth Paltrow, singer Chris Martin is opening up about the end of his marriage.
The Coldplay frontman, 37, sat down with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe for an extended interview about his band's new album, his thoughts on One Direction, and his very public private life.
"I wouldn't use the word breakdown," Martin told Lowe about the dissolution of his marriage. "This was more a realization about trying to grow up basically… if you can't open yourself up, you can't appreciate the wonder inside. So you can be with someone very wonderful, but because of your own issues you cannot let that be celebrated in the right way."
Martin and Paltrow, 41, announced the end of their 11-year marriage in a blog post on Paltrow's lifestyle website, Goop, on March 25. The pair titled the post "Conscious Uncoupling," and wrote, "It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate." Sources told Us Weekly that the end of the marriage was sparked by clashes over parenting strategies, disagreements over plans for the family, and even the strain of Paltrow's strict dietary rules. Tensions also escalated over ongoing rumors of infidelity.
The Grammy winner, who is the father to two children with Paltrow, continued to Lowe: "What changed for me was, I don't want to go through life being scared of it, being scared of love, being scared of rejection, being scared of failure… About two years ago I was a mess really because I can't enjoy the thing that we are good at and I can't enjoy the great things around me because I'm burdened by this -- I've got to not blame anyone else and make some changes."
Martin went on to elaborate on his own issues, saying, "Up to a certain point in my life I wasn't completely vulnerable and it caused some problems. If you don't let love really in then you can't really give it back."
The sit-down was also a chance for the musician to plug Coldplay's latest album Ghost Stories. The project is due out May 19. by nivel