10 things you never wanted to know about Gwyneth Paltrow
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Oprah Winfrey picks Richard Russo's 'Bridge of Sighs' for her book club
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Russo i s the latest author to be welcomed into the inner circle of Oprah Winfrey book club picks. Winfrey announced Tuesday that she had selected Russo's 'Bridge of Sighs,' a 2007 novel centered in a rural New York community. Russo has set much of his work in small, Northeastern towns, including 'Nobody's Fool,' later adapted into a movie of the same name that starred Paul Newman; and 'Empire Falls,' winner of the Pulitzer in 2002 and the basis for an Emmy-winning HBO series that featured Newman and his wife, Joanne Woodward. Winfrey often chooses new books for her club, but has at times looked to older releases, from Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' to John Steinbeck's 'East of Eden.' 'It is, of course, a profound honor to be chosen for Oprah's Book Club,' Russo said in a statement. 'But to be chosen for a novel written two decades earlier? A book that will introduce a whole new generation of readers to my work? How special is that?' A conversation between Winfrey and Russo, held recently at a Starbucks in Seattle, can be seen on Winfrey's YouTube channel and on other outlets where podcasts are aired. Starbucks is the current partner for Winfrey's book club, which she founded in 1996. On Tuesday, Winfrey issued a statement praising 'Bridge of Sighs' as a 'classic summer read,' with "romance, unrequited love, life-long friendships, and of course — epic family drama.' 'If you're a fan of Richard Russo or discovering him for the first time, here's your opportunity to read one of America's most beloved writers,' she added.
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Jeans, controversy, used bathwater: Sydney Sweeney's selling it all. A showbiz masterclass, if you ask me
'SORRY FOR HAVING GREAT TITS AND CORRECT OPINIONS.' Not my words, readers (although, having said that …), but the words of a sweatshirt worn across the aforementioned acclaimed rack of Sydney Sweeney last year, shortly after some madly overheated controversy or other involving the Euphoria/Anyone But You star. I forget which controversy. Like Marvel movies, too many Sydney Sweeney controversies were made, and they all seemed to connect to each other in ways no one but the truly initiated could understand, so now only the saddos turn out for each and every one. You might dimly be aware there's another one going on at the moment, following Sydney's participation in an American Eagle denim advert – a fashion retail event which obviously spiralled into some fatuous blue jeans/red state flame-war that has seen deranged TikTokers claim something about 'eugenics', the president trouser-rubbingly decide he likes Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle shares climb 23% in a week. Tell me the US will still be Earth's dominant superpower in 30 years because I simply DON'T want to hear anything else. This is the behaviour of a culture with legs. (And a perfect ass, sorry if you can't handle it.) Anyway, aside from the white supremacist lunacy, there is frothing disquiet about the extent of Sweeney's commercial brand partnerships, which include Miu Miu, Armani Beauty and a men's grooming product firm for which she recently did a tongue-in-cheek ad to flog soap that contained trace elements of her bathwater. It all seems quite a lot of lucrative fun, which must, of course, be stamped on, particularly when it seems to be being had by a woman. I had to laugh at the intervention in a New York Times article of the fashion analyst who said: 'It seems like she's not embarrassed or ashamed by promoting all of these different projects.' Oh my God. Imagine! In fact, that explicit mention of shame reminded me of something that I'd read last year in the Guardian, which described Sydney Sweeney as 'problematic yet unashamed'. I do so enjoy these funny ways of talking – although perhaps one's not supposed to? I certainly genuinely loved the moment last year when Sweeney offered Vanity Fair a temperature check on the aspirational sisterhood of … hang on, let me get my reading glasses on … the Hollywood movie business. 'This entire industry, all people say is 'women empowering other women',' Sydney explained. 'None of it's happening. All of it is fake and a front for all the other shit that they say behind everyone's back.' Oof. Ladies and gentlemen, she went there. And how can you not love it? Chalk up another correct opinion and just accept that Sydney might not now get cast in a strong-female-led film based on a kids' book, inspired by a theme-park ride or commissioned by a toy company. As for Sydney's online adversaries, what is it that cliched enemy characters say in the movies? 'You and I, we are not so different after all.' Fact is, Sydney Sweeney is an actor. She wants attention. And – newsflash – so does some dreary TikToker making the nutty claim that American Eagle has done a white supremacist advert. They're just a million miles less good at it than Sydney. Unless, of course, my other theory is true: that there are masses of undercover Maga agents whose sole job is to pose as woke warriors and say things so provocatively dumb that they further degrade the already cratered global reputation of the American left. Or, to couch it in their preferred language: if the vice-president and Fox News seize delightedly and profitably upon the usefully idiotic things you say, then it's just possible you are in your least desirable location – 'the wrong side of history'. Or, to put it in even more basic terms: YOU ARE NOT HELPING. Furthermore – and perhaps even more importantly – you are making the world less amusing. What you have failed to understand is something that us normies know instinctively. Namely, that this is how we want our celebrities, and most particularly our movie stars, to act. Most ordinary people want – and have always wanted – their movie stars to be gorgeous, fantastical, completely ridiculous figures in any number of ways, or else they'd be the most boring thing in the world: just like us. We want our movie stars to be 'unashamedly' hot. We want our movie stars to tell us that they literally have to sell their own bathwater to eat, then find out they have a property empire that includes but is not limited to a $3m house in Westwood, a $6m house in Bel Air and a $13.5m house on a private Floridian island with a 520-bottle wine cellar, an aquarium and an infinity pool with a swim-up bar. Of course, not everyone's a normie. It will have come to your attention that there are some people out there who want celebrities to drone on about causes, to post like it makes the blindest bit of difference and to hold fundraisers for Joe Biden till it's miles too late. But these people are strategically bankrupt, don't really have a cultural hinterland and should largely be avoided at parties. Listen, five years ago, a commercially instinctive Sydney Sweeney would have done a feminist stunt or a tweet about mental health. Plenty of stars did, and made plenty from them. But nothing's static and vibes change, so stars are doing different starry things now. Or to put it another way: they're all in the infinity pool, but some of them are headed for the swim-up bar. That's showbiz – try not to choke on it. Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Gary Numan's wife Gemma is hospitalised as she faces major spinal and kidney surgeries after years of agony
Gary Numan 's wife Gemma has been hospitalised as she prepares for major spinal and kidney surgeries following years of agonising pain, migraines and a mini-stroke. The mother of three, 57, shared the update after undergoing a spinal procedure in London to ease the chronic neck pain and migraines that have plagued her for the past two years. Posting a series of hospital bed selfies on Instagram on Monday, Gemma - who married synthpop icon Gary in 1997 - explained she was hoping the treatment would buy her enough time to get through the next few months before undergoing spinal surgery. 'Just had my spine procedure in London again like last year - it gave me 8 months relief,' she wrote. 'Then the neck pain and migraines came screaming back. So I've come again to hope to get me through the next few months until I absolutely have to have 5 cervical discs removed and replaced ASAP after the Gary Numan tour.' The procedure she had targets specific areas of the spine to ease nerve compression and inflammation - offering temporary pain relief until more invasive intervention can be scheduled. However, that is only the beginning of what Gemma describes as a long road ahead. Once her husband's global tour wraps later this year, she says she will return to Los Angeles, where the couple live with their three daughters Raven, Persia and Echo, to undergo a kidney autotransplantation - a rare and complex surgery in which her own kidney will be repositioned within her body. She says the operation has been recommended to treat nutcracker syndrome, a vascular disorder she was diagnosed with earlier this year after experiencing what she calls 'two years of weird harsh pains'. The condition occurs when the left renal vein is compressed, often causing severe flank pain, abdominal discomfort, and blood in the urine. Gemma added that she had also been diagnosed with May-Thurner syndrome, another vascular condition in which veins in the pelvis are compressed. As well as this, Gemma has pelvic congestion syndrome, a painful disorder caused by varicose veins in the pelvic region. 'May Thurner [syndrome] may have even caused the clot that led to the TIA I had last year!' she wrote, referencing a transient ischaemic attack, or mini-stroke, she suffered in 2024. 'I'm a broken nightmare! Hopefully getting fixed!' Gemma added, alongside heart emojis. The post was flooded with supportive messages from fans and friends, including singer Shirley Posting a series of hospital bed selfies on Instagram on Monday, Gemma - who married synthpop icon Gary in 1997 (Pictured) - explained she was hoping the treatment would buy her enough time to get through the next few months 'Just had my spine procedure in London again like last year - it gave me 8 months relief,' she wrote Manson of Garbage, who wrote: 'Dear GOD Gemma, I'm so sorry darling. What a lot to deal with. 'It totally sucks BUM. Feel better. You deserve a life free of pain. Sending love love love.' British punk designer Pam Hogg also offered her support, writing: 'Omg Gemma ��.. so sad t hear you're still going through this ��.. sending you all my love .. take care beautiful xxx.' The candid post marks one of the first times Gemma has spoken in detail about her full slate of diagnoses. Her health troubles have increasingly come to light in recent years. In mid-2024, Gary revealed Gemma had undergone treatment for a heart arrhythmia that had seen her pulse spike to dangerously high levels - describing it as a 'scary time' for the family. Not long after, he disclosed on social media that she had suffered a mini-stroke. At the time, the family was preparing for his UK tour, and Gary hinted that the medical emergency had been a shock to them all. Gemma has been married to the Cars singer for nearly three decades. She is credited with helping shape his public comeback in the 2000s after his career dipped in the late 80s and early 90s.
