Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin hit Bahamas as split hits the fan

Apparently, the first step in “conscious uncoupling” is to take a family vacation to the Bahamas. That’s where Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin and their kids are reportedly camped out in the wake of this week’s news that mom and dad are calling it quits.

The trip to the Bahamian island of Eleuthera was their way of avoiding the media hubbub surrounding their breakup, a source close to the actress told People on Thursday. The actress and the Coldplay frontman jointly announced their split Tuesday in a post on Paltrow’s Goop website.

“They’re in a somewhat isolated place, so they don’t have to deal with it as much,” the source said. It’s the same island where Justin Bieber recently celebrated his 20th birthday.

In the couple’s absence and despite their post-split show of togetherness, the New York Daily News’ Confidenti@l column on Thursday dished some serious dirt, quoting a source as saying the couple had been in an “open relationship” for a while.

“I expected this [breakup] was going to happen, it was just a matter of when,” the source said. “They were just very different people.”

Paltrow and Martin have over the years denied all rumors of extramarital affairs. And another Confidenti@l insider said Martin had been sad about the relationship for three years. “All the rumors about the cheating got to him,” that person said.

According to the column, Paltrow was worried the rumors would make their way into that much-talked-about but never published Vanity Fair story. Editor Graydon Carter said in February that the piece was actually “a reasoned, reported essay on the hate/love-fest that encircles Gwyneth Paltrow” and far from the “epic takedown” that was anticipated. In an editor’s note, he said he’d shelved the story for the time being because it was doomed to disappoint readers.

Contrary to Carter’s note, Confidenti@l said Paltrow also had heard that the magazine knew about the impending “uncoupling” and called the editor to talk him out of running with it. She allegedly wanted control over when and how the split news hit went public, in order to protect her children.

Paltrow plans to stay in Los Angeles, Radar Online said Wednesday, while Martin will reportedly head home to his native England, where they lived for most of their 10-year marriage. Incidentally, the couple bought a $14-million home in Malibu just before their announcing their split. That’s in addition to the home they bought in Pacific Palisades in 2012, so the new pad might be a spot for Martin to stay when he’s in town. According to TMZ, in 2013 he tried to buy a place in Brentwood where he and his bandmates could hang out, but she squashed the deal.

In an interview with E! News conducted the week before the news broke, the “Glee” guest star said her immediate plans were to get back to being “mommy” to Apple, 9, and Moses, 7. She said she has a one-movie-a-year rule, so wouldn’t be shooting anything any time soon, having wrapped the film “Mortdecai” with Johnny Depp in January.

Paltrow also appeared to catch herself right before telling E! that her job as a movie star made life as a mother harder for her than it is for women who have 9-to-5 gigs.

“I think it’s different when you have an office job, because it’s routine and, you know, you can do all the stuff in the morning and then you come home in the evening,” she said. “When you’re shooting a movie, they’re like, ‘We need you to go to Wisconsin for two weeks,’ and then you work 14 hours a day and that part of it is very difficult.

“I think to have a regular job and be a mom is not as, of course there are challenges, but it’s not like being on set.”

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