Ananova:

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are expecting their first baby.

A spokesman for the actress said the pair were very pleased, adding that the baby is due next summer.

Paltrow and Coldplay frontman Martin have been dating for the past year.

Paltrow's spokesman Stephen Huvane declined to say whether the couple intended to marry.

Paltrow and Martin have remained fiercely tight-lipped about their romance, which became public last summer.

She has hinted in recent interviews that she wanted to settle down and start a family. Currently she splits her time between New York and London.

Paltrow told Michael Parkinson in an interview last month that she hoped to marry. But when pressed on whether she would marry Martin she said: "I'm the wrong person to ask - ask him."

And the star recently told USA Today newspaper she was ready to settle down "in the middle of a lot of land" and focus on "partners and babies".

Paltrow was devastated when her father Bruce died from throat cancer in Rome during her 30th birthday celebrations in October last year. She said the death sparked the worst year of her life.