Gradients are not smooth, Fractal type shapes are formed along the path and overlays appear to sharp

What do you mean by "too sharp"?

And by "fractal shapes" are you referring to the white bits in the graphic on the right?

As for the smoothness, from your screen shot, the stair-stepping in the background gradient you're seeing is not unexpected considering the limits of 8-bit RGB. Remember, each channel of RGB can only create 256 levels between 0% and 100%, and these "steps" are more noticeable at the dark end of that scale, and when colors are more monochromatic. Color management can also play a hand. at how these gardients are handled.

The suggestion to use Photoshop to create a gradient with a bit of noise overcomes this by slightly randomizing the pixels to "hide" the steps. Even without adding noise, More recent Photoshop versions can create smoother gradients by default as they add bit of dither to them as they are created to hide the stepping. This is essentially what highend RIPs do when they output Postscript Level 3 gradients.

You say “when publishing” but did not say how. What is the end form of the document? If screen, what format and how is it produced. If print how is it printed and how are you sending the document?

You could try making the gradient in Photoshop. Make a document the size of your gradient in the desired resolution (300 ppi is probably overkill even for print, so go with that). Create teh gradient and add a little noise. Save as PSD and place that.

Can you show a screen capture?

Have you made sure all content and the ID file is set to RGB as you build it?

Have you tried making the gradient in a separate frame on each page instead of bridging across the spread?

What are you exporting to?