Singer Chris Martin was reportedly "hard to live with" before he split from wife and actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

The former couple - who have children Apple, 9, and Moses, 8, together - split in March after 10 years of marriage, and insiders claim the Coldplay frontman's insecurity caused a lot of their problems, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"Chris is very tough on himself and that can be hard to live with. There was a time a few years ago when there were a lot of fights," Britain's Grazia magazine quoted a source as saying.

Martin's insecurity made him "hard" for Paltrow to live with.

"He and Gwyneth had a great life but it was like he couldn't quite see it and couldn't commit to it. There were other issues that sparked off that and, ultimately, they ended up leading very different, very separate lives," said the source.