Kourtney Kardashian talks about mom guilt and blending families with Travis Barker

Kourtney Kardashian opened up about experiencing mom guilt and the reality of blending families in conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow.

The Poosh co-founder went on an episode of The goop Podcast to discuss her rise to fame and her interest in all things wellness. The eldest Kardashian sister, 43, also got to talking about how she experiences mom guilt with a busy schedule.

Kardashian told Paltrow that she had just returned home from a nine-day trip, "which is the longest I think I've ever been away from my kids," she said. And while she'd usually feel more anxious about the time away, she felt at ease knowing that they were with their dad Scott Disick.

"I don't feel as guilty," Kardashian said of the three kids having their dad to stay with. "It's not like if they were home with a nanny, I think I would not have been able to leave town or had extreme guilt. I get really intense mom guilt."

While Kardashian is now married to Travis Barker, she and Paltrow agreed that co-parenting with an ex contributes to having "way less guilt" when it comes to traveling with a partner and knowing that the children are with their other parent. "That's one of the benefits," Kardashian noted.

However, it doesn't take away from the challenge of blending families.

Paltrow is familiar with the process after marrying American Horror Story producer Brad Falchuk in 2018 and becoming a stepmother to his two children who are the same ages as her two kids with Chris Martin. In a previous podcast episode, the Goop founder called step-parenting an "interesting challenge." With Kardashian, Paltrow said she wished she had taken on the role much sooner.

As for Kardashian and the Blink-182 drummer, however, she explained that they're in no rush to put their kids under one roof, although they've been blending their families for years.

"We live a block away from each other, so that's why we're kind of in that place of like, everyone loves their own home. We are a block away so it's a nice thing and then the days when [the kids] at their dad's I can always be [at Barker's]," Kardashian explained. "I think it's hard to know what’s the right thing to do, what's the best thing to do and then we're like, 'Let's have rooms at each house for everybody. Let's make a bunk bed room and let's do all the stuff.' So I think we're taking the steps but we're also really mindful of everyone also being happy and not feeling out of place."

She continued, "We also are not putting a ton of pressure on ourselves to make a forced or a really fast decision ... Let's just take our time and see what feels best. Also, if we found a perfect home or something like that, I'm sure that we would also just do that where everyone feels like it's everyone’s instead of we're moving to your house or you're moving to our house."

The proximity of their homes and the relationship that they had with each other and their six combined children prior was a "blessing," Kardashian said. "We were friends for eight years and they would come over and do gingerbread houses and carve pumpkins, and all the holidays and stuff."

But even as the kids become more comfortable becoming one family, she encourages open dialogue with her own children throughout the process. "Even this morning I said to my kids, 'How does everyone feel about everything?' Just to check-in. Or like, 'Do you guys have any questions?' Just having those conversations."

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