At Heart of Split: Gwyneth's Mid-Life Crisis?

Another possible reason for the Gwyneth Paltrow-Chris Martin split: Paltrow's mid-life crisis. That's what sources are now telling Radar, noting that Paltrow has been particularly concerned about her looks for a while now. "To say she is obsessed with her physical appearance is ... an understatement. Turning 40 seemed to do something to her psyche," says one, adding that it was also around her 40th birthday when Paltrow abruptly decided to return to Los Angeles, a place she had "talked about ... with disdain for years," calling it "shallow and a city with no soul." More on the "conscious uncoupling":

• Whatever the reason for the split, a source close to the couple tells the New York Daily News, "This news should surprise no one. They haven’t been a couple for a number of years and have been pretending for the sake of the kids and each other’s careers."
• All sorts of Paltrow cheating rumors have been resurfacing (Radar even points out that she was spotted casually smooching ex-boyfriend Donovan Leitch at a Dodgers game in September), and even Martin has been rumored to be involved with Kate Bosworth or Kate Hudson. A source tells the New York Daily News the marriage "had been an open relationship for quite some time." Paltrow even reportedly flirted with another man while attending a Haiti benefit with Martin in January, and another source claims, "All the rumors about the cheating got to him."
• Both the Daily News and the New York Post speculate that the impending split was the reason Paltrow was so determined to torpedo a planned Vanity Fair piece on her.
• But Martin and Paltrow themselves seem to be taking the split much better than the tabloids are: The Daily Mail reports that as news of the split broke, they were on a family vacation in the Bahamas, and Martin bought Paltrow a goodbye gift: a painting of a bird in flight "to mark this new stage."

(More Gwyneth Paltrow stories.)