After more than 10 years of marriage the actor Gwyneth Paltrow and British rock star Chris Martin have announced that they are to split up.

A statement on Paltrow's website, Goop, announced on Tuesday that the couple were embarking on a "Conscious Uncoupling".

"It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate," the couple wrote.

"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."

It went on: "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 message was signed simply, "Love, Gwyneth & Chris."

Paltrow, 41, who won a best actress Academy award for Shakespeare in Love, and British singer Martin, 37, were married in December 2003, and have two children, Apple and Moses.

Last month, the editor of the influential US magazine Vanity Fair penned a 1,500-word article to explain to readers why he had not published an article about Paltrow.

The Los Angles-born actress, named by alternative US magazines as the "most hated celebrity" and the "world's most beautiful woman", had been engaged in a dispute for almost a year with the magazine, which was said to have been planning to run an essay on "the Gwyneth Paltrow love/hate phenomenon".

Chris Martin and Coldplay release their sixth album, Ghost Stories, this May.