Karen Elson reveals she and Jack White attempted ‘conscious uncoupling’ before divorce

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music

Get our Now Hear This email for free

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

Karen Elson says that she and her ex-husband Jack White attempted to do the “conscious-uncoupling thing” before divorcing in 2013.

The English musician and model married US artist White in 2005. They have two teenage children together.

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK, Elson, 42, said the White Stripes and Raconteurs frontman is now a “dear friend”.

“Every divorce has its challenging moments. We first tried to do the Goopy conscious-uncoupling thing,” she said.

“That all fell on its head, but now I can wholeheartedly say that my ex-husband is a dear friend and someone I love.

“I look at him and think ‘You’re my family’. I know him as ‘Dad’ - I roll my eyes at his dad jokes and I offer him advice when our teenagers are giving him grief.”

“Our relationship is purely that of parents,” she added.

The term “conscious uncoupling” gained mainstream prominence after it was used by Hollywood actor and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, to announce their divorce in 2014.

Elson is a founding member and performer with the New York-based cabaret troupe The Citizens Band and has also collaborated with artists including Cat Power.

White has announced two new albums for release in 2022, Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive.

The February issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale from 6 January.

Additional reporting by Press Association