Gwyneth Paltrow's Daughter Is Growing Up So Fast

Did someone rip the time-space continuum? (Or, hey, maybe it just consciously uncoupled.) Because just yesterday Gwyneth Paltrow announced she and Chris Martin were expecting their first child together. Then, the world blinked and that daughter, Apple Martin, turned into a teenager. At least that's what it feels like when you watch a celebrity kid who is raised in the spotlight and, accordingly, grows up right before your eyes. 

Over the years, Apple has gone from a tow-headed tot being led into ballet class by grandma Blythe Danner to a beautiful young girl — one who loves her mama, is her dad's biggest fan and plays Taylor Swift on loop. Before you know it, you'll blink again and Apple will be the new editrix of her mom's luxury lifestyle empire, Goop. For now, though, it's fun to look back and consider just how far Paltrow and Martin's oldest child has come since her birth in 2004.  

Of course Gwyneth Paltrow would make being pregnant look effortless and amazing. In May 2018, the mom-of-two revealed a never-before-seen-photo of herself when she was expecting Apple, and suffice it to say, she Demi Moore'd that baby bump, y'all. Paltrow put her glorious belly on display for a tastefully nude photo that personifies the beauty of pregnancy.

Paltrow definitely had that expectant mama glow, and why wouldn't she? The actress revealed in a Goop podcast that her pregnancy with Apple was "euphoric." That said, she admitted to the Daily Mail in 2013 that the post-partum period wasn't quite as peachy, saying then-husband Chris Martin stepped in to help. "I was breastfeeding Apple and was exhausted, and he said, 'You go upstairs and have a bath and relax and I will make dinner,'" Paltrow said, adding that he set off the fire alarm. But, hey, it's the thought that counts, right? 

Any parent will tell you that naming your child is a deeply personal decision — but one which everyone likes to weigh in on. The public peanut gallery is predictably opinionated when it comes to celebrity baby names since, well, Hollywood does come up with some unique ones. So when Paltrow and Martin announced their first child, a daughter, would be named Apple, you could practically hear people rolling their eyes.

During an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004, though, Paltrow said she didn't understand the hullabaloo over the hotly debated name (which, for the record, Martin suggested). "It conjured such a lovely picture for me — you know, apples are so sweet and they're wholesome and it's biblical — and I just thought it sounded so lovely and clean," she said. "And I just thought, 'Perfect!'"

Of the criticism the name received, Paltrow told Winfrey, "I found (that) surprising because there are people named Rose or Lily or Ivy or June or lots of pretty nouns." 

As Paltrow tells it, Apple's personality emerged early and has always been lovely. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey when her daughter was a mere three months old, Paltrow described the little girl as being "very tranquil" as well as "very placid and very aware." 

However, it would seem that Apple has certainly come out of her shell more as she's gotten older. "My daughter is super ballsy," Paltrow told Samantha Bee for Harper's Bazaar in 2016. "I always follow her lead. I actually don't need to encourage her to take risks. She likes to push herself; she wants to see how far she can get. It's really inspiring to see that in a young woman." Paltrow also revealed that her parenting philosophy is similar to the way her father raised her: to give her and her brother "the skills to be grown-ups and the curiosity to ask the right questions."

Whenever Paltrow decides to hand over the reigns of her Goop empire, she obviously won't have to look very far to find her replacement. 

You likely wouldn't get arguments out of anyone in the Paltrow-Martin fam if you were to call Apple a daddy's girl. In fact, according to Paltrow, Apple's strong bond with her father formed fast and strong. "When her daddy walks in the room he'll say, 'Hello girls!' and her little head's trying to find his voice,'" Paltrow told Oprah Winfrey about a then-3-month-old Apple's instant adoration of Martin. That connection clearly carried over into adolescence and beyond, because Paltrow often posts photos of Apple fangirling at Coldplay concerts or just hanging out with her famous dad.

The duo's tight-knit relationship is likely strengthened by the fact that, like Martin, Apple is quite musical. In 2015, Paltrow shared a video on Instagram of her daughter playing guitar and singing the song "Keegan's Christmas" by Marcy's Playground in a kids' choir. Then, in 2016, footage surfaced of Martin pulling Apple onto the stage during a private concert to perform Ariana Grande's "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart." What's that they say about the apple not falling far from the tree? 

You can't get much more Hollywood meta than the daughters of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin and Beyonce and Jay Z being BFFs. Gwynnie's friendship with Queen Bey routinely makes headlines, but the real stars of the show are their adorable daughters. 

In February 2016, after Beyonce's halftime performance at SuperBowl 50, Paltrow shared an oh-so-sweet photo of Apple and Blue Ivy walking hand in hand down the sidewalk. "Jacket game," she captioned the snapshot of the girls in colorful outerwear. In May 2016, Apple and Blue popped up once again on Paltrow's Insta feed — this time as part of a "birthday brunch squad." 

It's no wonder that Paltrow doesn't mind being the designated babysitter when it comes to these cuties. "It's really funny. It's like my kids' dad and Blue's mom are always doing these incredible, mind-boggling things and I'm always with the kids and the snack bag and baby wipes and juice boxes," she joked to ET in 2016. 

Although there's no denying Apple digs her dad's music — see aforementioned fangirling and onstage collaborations — the girl's other musical tastes are pretty typical for a teen. Case in point? Taylor Swift is apparently Apple's favorite singer (you know, outside of her dear ol' dad), and Paltrow doesn't mind these musical leanings at all. She approves of her little girl's pick so much that, in 2015, Paltrow gave Swift the first of what may turn out to be many ringing endorsements.

"Happy birthday, #taylorswift," she wrote on Instagram, posting a photo of the entertainer hugging Apple. "Thank you for being the kind of #girlboss that you are. And for being Apple Martins biggest inspiration."

The following year, Paltrow confirmed to People that she's more than okay with her daughter being a diehard Swiftie. "She's very savvy, she keeps her clothes on, she writes music, she has good values. She's a good girl," Paltrow said of the country-turned-pop-star.

No one's denying that Apple favors her dad — you can't look at the teen's pretty face without seeing Martin's shining through. However, Apple is one of those kids who remarkably resembles both parents. And while she may be her dad's little doppelganger, she's also her mom's mini-me.

A quick glance at Paltrow's Instagram feed will quickly corroborate this assertion. The mother-daughter duo often poses for pics together and, side-by-side, they're total twinsies. The pair's deluge of selfies likely won't let up anytime soon either, considering how much they love to spend time together. "I'll probably get kicked out of our school for admitting this, but I let Apple stay home yesterday. I just needed to be with her," Paltrow told Good Housekeeping in 2011. So what did they do on this day-date? "We went out to lunch, we went to the beauty salon, we were together."

In the time since, Paltrow has posted plenty of pics of her and Apple out and about — eating lunch, going shopping and maybe, just maybe, playing hooky. 

When Paltrow posted a photo of Apple on her thirteenth birthday, fans couldn't get over just how grown-up the little girl looked. But it was clear even by the tone of Paltrow's caption that Apple is, indeed, moving more and more every day toward being her own person. "Happy 13th birthday you gorgeous human. You light up every room, my heart, the world. You. Are. Everything. I love you, schnapps," Paltrow penned to her precocious offspring.

It wasn't the first time Paltrow faced the dreaded Mama truth that her baby girl wasn't actually a baby anymore. In 2016, just after Apple turned 12, Paltrow told People, "She's so tall and she really has her own life." The proud mama also admitted she held onto Apple's innocence as long as possible, noting "she was the last one of her friends to get a phone."

Alas, you know you've got a teen on your hands when their interests, per Paltrow, are "cooking, beauty, makeup." And, oh, did we forget to mention texting and fashion, too?

When Paltrow moved back to Los Angeles from London in 2013, she knew that it wouldn't be the last her family would see of the UK. For that matter, she knew it would just be the tip of the iceberg when it came to traveling and pond-hopping for her passport-carrying kids.

"It's part of my parenting philosophy that children should get the opportunity to reinvent themselves at a few points in their childhood to see where their strengths and weaknesses lie and to experience living in different cultures," Paltrow told Red of her decision to split her kids' time between America and other locales.  

Although Paltrow called it "an experiment" at the time, that mobile (and global!) lifestyle seems to be working out perfectly fine for young Apple. By her tender mid-teens, she'd already played with alpacas in Peru, sailed the crystal-clear waters of the Caribbean, and caught a killer sunset with her mom in Mexico. 

Just because you've got legs that look to be about a million miles long doesn't guarantee you're going to be a good dancer. Sometimes being leggy works to your disadvantage and you wind up looking like a newborn giraffe on the dance floor (*raises hand*). But when you're Apple Martin, your enviable limbs apparently move with finesse.

Over the years, Paltrow has made numerous allusions on her IG feed to her daughter's dancing skills. In 2016, she showed Apple leaving a dance competition after the girl "crushed it." In February 2017, Apple — Starbucks in hand — was captured at a dance competition in a seriously jazzy ensemble. And in May 2017, Paltrow hilariously posted a photo of "#dancedad" Chris Martin wearing Mickey Mouse gloves and tossing back a cocktail.

Apple's most impressive dance move to date, though, has to have been the aerial ballet Paltrow photographed her daughter doing on a Mexican beach in June 2017. "Two week trip complete," Paltrow captioned the jaw-dropping pic, adding the hashtag, "#victorydanceofahomebody." She captured a similar moment of her daughter's impressive flexibility in December of that year, but this time with dad hilariously attempting air-splits in the background.

Being a teen can be tough stuff, and being a teen who happens to have celebrity parents probably means weathering more than your fair share of slings and arrows. But if Paltrow's 14th birthday post to her daughter is any indication, Apple isn't letting anything dim her light. 

"Happy birthday, my darling girl. You make everyday feel like Christmas morning. You are the most vibrant, hilarious, twirling all over the place, beautiful (inside and out) young woman," Paltrow poured her heart out on Instagram in May 2018. "You are an amazing thinker and an incredible songwriter. Thanks for still hanging out with me, even though you are 14." 

Paltrow understands how difficult these years can be, telling Today in 2017 that they were "brutal" for her. Still, she feels confident Apple will come out on the other side of adolescence even better. "I have to say, so far, Apple... she's pretty great," Paltrow gushed. 

Getting married is one of the most exciting times in any bride's life. But with weddings come some pretty difficult decisions — for example, choosing who will be standing next to you as you exchange vows with your beloved. Lucky for Gwyneth Paltrow, she had a built-in bridesmaid when she wed producer and Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk on September 29, 2018.

In a series of wedding photos posted to Paltrow's popular lifestyle website, Goop, Apple Martin dons a white, floor-length, strapless Monique Lhuillier bridesmaid gown while standing with her new stepsister, Isabella, and watching as a laughing Paltrow is helped into her custom Valentino Couture wedding dress. In a post-ceremony photo, Apple can be seen beaming in the background as she watches the elated bride and groom walk hand-in-hand down the aisle through raining confetti. While not every child is thrilled to see their parent(s) go on to marry someone else after a divorce (or "conscious uncoupling"), it seems Apple couldn't be happier for her newlywed mom.