Chris Martin has suggested that his own personal "issues" were partly to blame for his split from wife Gwyneth Paltrow.

The Coldplay frontman told BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe that his problems with being happy had made life difficult.

According to the Daily Mirror, he said: "I don't want to go through life being scared of it, being scared of love, scared of rejection, scared of failure.

"If you can't open yourself up, you can't appreciate the wonder inside. So you can be with someone very wonderful, but because of your own issues you cannot let that be celebrated in the right way."

Chris, 37, and Gwyneth, 41, have two children, Apple, nine, and Moses, seven, together and announced in March that they were "consciously uncoupling", insisting that the split was amicable.

The Paradise singer continued: "Two years ago I was a mess because I can't enjoy the thing our band is good at and I can't enjoy the great things around me.

"I'm burdened by this. I've got to not blame anyone and make changes.

"Up to a point in my life I wasn't completely vulnerable and it caused some problems. If you don't let love in then you can't really give it back."

Chris said of Colplay's new album Ghost Stories: "So what Ghost Stories means to me is like you've got to open yourself up to love and if you really do, of course it will be painful at times, but it will be great at some point."

He added that his family suffered the same problems as everyone else: "Everyone needs to be broken in some way. Everyone in their life goes through challenges, whether it's love or money, kids or illness.

"You have to really not run away from that stuff. Life throws these colourful challenges at you.

"What we decided to do on Ghost Stories was to really be honest and say what's been happening."

Talking about the new album's first single, Magic, he said: "It's about saying this person is really awesome and is magic, and of course certain parts of it have to change because that's life, but not everything has to be black or white or clear cut.

"It's not a question of if you either really love or hate someone.

"Especially with the modern world's complications, like travelling and illness and addiction, ultimately there's magic between two people no matter what anyone else thinks."