10 things you never wanted to know about Gwyneth Paltrow

Telegraph

5 days ago

Lucky nepo baby, talented Oscar winner, pioneering businesswoman, or danger to the public? Journalist Amy Odell tackles the polarised perceptions of Gwyneth Paltrow, Hollywood star-turned-Goop mogul, in a new biography.
Paltrow refused to contribute to the unauthorised book. So, alas, there are no new quotes from the queen of unrelatability, who gave us such gems as 'I'd rather smoke crack than eat cheese from a can' and 'I am who I am. I can't pretend to be somebody who makes $25,000 a year.'
Despite the book being unauthorised, Odell has interviewed more than 200 people connected to Paltrow.
All the greatest hits are here, from the showbiz childhood (she's the daughter of director Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner, and god-daughter of Steven Spielberg) and the weepy Oscars acceptance speech, to 'conscious uncoupling', jade vagina eggs and the infamous ski trial, as well as some juicy new details.
Here are 10 things we learnt from Odell's book:
1. Why she broke up with fiancé Brad Pitt
Odell chronicles the pair's three-year relationship (1994-97). The book claims Paltrow chose between two film offers, Se7en and Feeling Minnesota, after a friend said: 'Well, who do you want to date, Brad Pitt or Keanu Reeves?' Her romance with Pitt was obvious to the Se7en crew: they held hands on set and smoked cigarettes together outside their trailers.
But while filming Emma, Paltrow told a crew member that Pitt wasn't right for her and confessed she had a crush on Hugh Grant. She was concerned their backgrounds were too different, and later told an interviewer 'when we go to restaurants and order caviar, I have to say to Brad, 'This is beluga and this is osetra.''
According to Odell, years later Paltrow confided in friends that she was sad when she heard Pitt was going to marry Jennifer Aniston, and said he 'has terrible taste in women'. The disparagement didn't end there: in 2005, Paltrow allegedly told Aerin Lauder (billionaire heiress to Estée Lauder) that Pitt is 'dumber than a sack of s--t'.
During visits to make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin's home, Paltrow reportedly 'cried about Pitt multiple times'. What she described seemed to Aucoin, according to someone with knowledge of his thinking, 'like Pitt might be verbally and emotionally abusive'.
Aucoin's advice to Paltrow was simple: 'You really need to end this.'
2. Her steamy chemistry with Ben Affleck
Paltrow's friends 'had reservations' about Affleck, whom she dated between 1997 and 2000, writes Odell, 'largely because of his addiction issues [alcoholism and gambling] but also because he didn't always reciprocate her affection'. Affleck preferred playing video games with his friends.
But the pair did have steamy chemistry. According to the book, she and Affleck were indiscreet on the set of Shakespeare in Love: a crew member walked in on them in Paltrow's dressing room. Appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2023, Paltrow gave her verdict on who out of Affleck and Pitt was the superior lover.
3. Falling out with Madonna
Paltrow's father Bruce asked Madonna (who he knew through her brother-in-law, director Leo Penn) to write to his teenage daughter, telling her to give up smoking. In 1995, Madonna advised again after nude pictures of Paltrow and Pitt were snapped by paparazzi in St Barts.
But the friendship soured around 2008, according to Odell, when Madonna showed up on the island where Paltrow and then-husband Martin were on holiday – Paltrow found that 'strange', she told a friend. Madonna insisted the couple join her for dinner, and then Odell claims Madonna 'went off on' her daughter Lourdes. Paltrow and Martin were apparently 'disgusted by the behaviour', and Martin told his wife: 'I can't be around this woman any more. She's awful.' Paltrow agreed Madonna was 'toxic' and ended the friendship.
4. Stealing a script from Winona Ryder
According to someone close to her, Paltrow turned down Shakespeare in Love without reading the script, but later picked it up from her friend Winona Ryder's coffee table and changed her mind. When the script-stealing story leaked to the press, Paltrow told friends that Ryder had started the rumour and denied she stole the script, saying she received it via her agent.
On another occasion, when Ryder and then-boyfriend Matt Damon got into an argument, Ryder stormed out and then returned claiming she'd been robbed – twice. Paltrow is said to have believed Ryder was lying for attention.
5. She has a history of fat-shaming
According to the book, Paltrow judged other girls at the exclusive Spence School in Manhattan for their weight, and in her senior yearbook listed 'obesity' as her nightmare.
Before filming comedy movie Shallow Hal, about a man (played by Jack Black) under a spell who falls for an obese woman, Paltrow put on her fat suit and walked around in public to see how people reacted – but only lasted 20 minutes because she found it 'distressing', said Barry Teague, the film's line producer.
Paltrow later gave a tone-deaf interview to Entertainment Tonight, saying: 'I got a real sense of what it would be like to be that overweight, and every pretty girl should be forced to do that.'
6. Her allegations against Harvey Weinstein
Odell revisits Paltrow's accusations against the disgraced former Miramax boss, as told to the New York Times – which include that he invited her to his hotel suite and suggested they give each other massages. Paltrow's then-boyfriend Pitt confronted Weinstein, and the producer allegedly later screamed at Paltrow, threatening to ruin her career.
In an email to Odell, Weinstein admitted to asking Paltrow for a massage, but says he never threatened her after Pitt confronted him, and that he believed Paltrow had forgiven him. Weinstein said: 'As far as my working relationship went with her, I never put my arm around her without her expressed consent, but she hugged me many, many times over the years.'
7. Paltrow and Chris Martin were an odd couple
Paltrow's friends weren't convinced they made sense together: 'While Gwyneth was extroverted and loved entertaining friends, Martin was an introvert who could be socially awkward.' Although what's not to like, quipped one friend, 'about a rock star who adores you?' Paltrow and Martin married in 2003 and have two children, Apple and Moses.
But her friends weren't surprised when they decided to split: Paltrow 'seemed to find him 'dorky'.'
They wondered if it had just been convenient timing – Martin came into her life right after she lost her beloved father Bruce in 2002, aged 58, to pneumonia and complications from oral cancer.
In 2014 the couple announced their separation in a Goop email newsletter, using the now-infamous term 'conscious uncoupling'.
8. She almost pivoted to music
In 2010 Paltrow sang in two projects: during her guest stint on TV show Glee (which is where she met her eventual second husband, producer Brad Falchuk), and in the memorably appalling movie Country Strong.
That led to her getting some career advice from none other than Beyoncé. Paltrow said in an interview that Queen Bey watched Paltrow rehearsing for the Grammys and told her, 'The singing is great. But you're not having any fun […] Be you!' Paltrow also claimed that Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z (a friend of Martin) suggested she go into a studio and try recording a solo album. 'So that's probably what I'll do.' Alas, the world is still awaiting Paltrow's album drop.
9. She is a nightmare boss
Odell uses eye-watering details to describe the bizarre work culture at Goop, including Paltrow having her own parking space with a sign saying 'Reserved for G-Spot'.
But the 'sometimes-toxic dynamic' in the office was kept quiet because many employees signed NDAs.
Paltrow, who trusted her own instincts instead of market research, created a Goop Glow drink with the flavour of 'birthday cake'. Or at least that was the intention: because its collagen powder came from the sea, the taste was actually 'vanilla fish'. Unsurprisingly, the drink bombed.
It's claimed that Paltrow was an 'erratic' boss: she would order her team to carry out her numerous ideas, then lose interest. However, everything had to look perfect, so employees would work until 2am setting up wellness events. When she spotted pee on a loo seat in the office, Paltrow allegedly took to the company's Slack channel, writing: 'Someone tinkled' and 'Make sure to clean up after yourselves'.
10. She popularised disinformation
Odell tracks how Paltrow's obsession with wellness and diet grew after the death of her father Bruce. She later told an Italian newspaper: 'Cancer has been the curse of my family […] I am challenging these evil genes by natural means.' Those 'means' included a strict vegetarian diet and only using organic soap and cleaners in her home.
But health professionals share their deep concerns about the pseudoscience claims made by Goop and its promotion of wellness gurus such as Alejandro Junger and Habib Sadeghi. Friends and colleagues, writes Odell, worried about Paltrow's 'susceptibility' to such people. But health law expert Timothy Caulfield suggests it is Paltrow's 'narcissistic' belief that only she can see the truth – the result of a lifetime of being treated as special.