Chris Martin calls Gwyneth Paltrow his 'beard'

Chris Martin

Martin was appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show when he made the comments about his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow.

A beard is a term which refers to concealing infidelity or sexual orientation.

On the show, Martin joked: “She’s been a great beard for me.”

Ellen responded by saying to the singer: “It's not really a real relationship? She just pretends that she's your wife?"

Martin and Paltrow, who is 39 and five years his senior, have been married since 2003 and have two children.

Gwyneth Paltrow: Chris Martin's 'beard'.

The frontman told Ellen it was ‘hard to believe’ and explained that before he started dating Paltrow, he had had a hard time meeting women.

He said: “I think a lot of people like me and Jonny [Buckland] join bands because we were really not doing so well.”

In a recent interview Martin, whose band’s new album is called Mylo Xyloto, said his marriage to the actress was his only serious relationship.