In May of this year, Gwyneth Paltrow posted some lovely photos of her daughter, Apple Martin, for Apple’s 16th birthday. Gwyneth included a sweet message about how she couldn’t believe her little girl is growing up so much. Apple is a beautiful girl, a great blend of both her parents, and Apple and Moses seem like well-adjusted kids all things considered. Like, I think Gwyneth is a giant elitist a–hole, but I think she tried to raise her kids to be smart and capable and productive. When I was writing about Gwyneth and Apple in May, I compared their mother-daughter situation to Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson versus Madonna and Lourdes. Like, I personally think Madonna is sick with jealousy over Lola’s youth and beauty. But I think Goldie just… isn’t like that. Where does Gwyneth fall? I still think that Gwyneth is probably more in the Goldie vein. Well, now Gwyneth is giving us another glimpse of what the mother-daughter relationship is like:
Gwyneth Paltrow just revealed that she is saving some of her most iconic looks for daughter Apple Martin, so now we’re officially counting down the days until the 16-year-old beauty makes her red-carpet debut. During a Zoom interview with PEOPLE to discuss her new partnership with anti-wrinkle injection treatment Xeomin, the actress described Apple (whom she shares with ex-husband Chris Martin) as a “beauty queen” and admitted “she is glamorous in a way that I’m not.”
“She’s very, very into makeup, which I’m not,” the Goop founder, 47, shared. “She knows how to do it perfect winged eyeliner. She gave herself acrylic nails. She’s a beauty queen.”
Paltrow continued, “She loves to play in my closet,” adding, “I have saved everything for her since 15 years before I had her. I save everything. Not everything, but every red carpet look I have saved for her.”
While Apple’s Instagram account is set to private mode, what we’ve seen from this teenage fashionista thus far is very promising.
It honestly sounds like Apple is very much a Generation Z kid who loves Instagram and TikTok and watches all of those makeup videos on YouTube. And I bet Gwyneth is like “…what’s that again??” But I do think Gwyneth sounds admiring of Apple and her “glamour.” The thing is, this is mostly a “what decade did you come of age” issue. When Gwyneth was coming up, it was a very anti-glamour mood. I mean, she became famous in her early 20s, in the early 90s, and the mood was very grunge and minimalist and “looking good without makeup” and disavowing frills and girliness. Apple’s generation is different – their role models are Instagram influencers shilling their makeup lines. Everybody’s a model and everybody has to look like they were hit by a dozen filters.
As for Gwyneth’s closet and her “saved” red carpet dresses… Apple’s going to end up wearing that famous pink satin Ralph Lauren to her senior prom, right?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.
The idea of having to listen to stories of a mini-Gwyneth for the next 20 years or whatever makes me feel so tired. Maybe it’s just the pandemic or the fact it’s a Friday? I just have no energy for this.
This made me giggle! Also, I agree, defeated already.
Oh man, Gwyneth has so much sun damage on her chest!!
Anyhoo, Apple is gorgeous and I’m sure will have great fashion made available to her always.
It’s called getting older lol. I’ve always used sunscreens and always had beautiful skin. Until menopause set in. I have dots, marks, shading and freckling I’ve never had. Getting older frakking sucks the big pelotas.
Are you crazy? It’s called consciously physically maturing lol
She is only 47. She shills very expensive beauty products and gets free facials and beauty maintenance in exchange for promotion. Our expectations our higher.
Agree 100%!
Let’s stop “celebrating” our daughters’ physical appearance. That is toxic feminity. We are so much more than our looks, but we re-enforce the idea that our looks are r epresentative of our worth and are what matters the most about us. Boys aren’t subjected to this.
While I do cheer your comment I have to add – boys ARE subjected to this. Not to the same extent as girls, of course, but from experience with my sons, it’s definitely an increasing issue with boys too
Society tells you where you fall in the “conventionally pretty” spectrum very early and treats you accordingly, so I think it’s important to at least have yout parents tell you you are beautiful.
MMC, I wish you were wrong, but you are so right. 😞
I believe we should celebrate both. Tell our daughters how beautiful AND smart they are. Play up their strengths and help them accept their weaknesses. Growing up my mom never told me I was beautiful until my prom night. That has had an affect on how I see myself as well. I have learned to love the way I look and in fact I think I am quite hot now. But it to twenty plus years to get there because my only focused on my intellect. I think it is a disservice to boys and girls to only focus on one or the other.
Well at least your mother told you once, lol.
My mother went out of her way, unsolicited and seemingly out of the blue, to tell me from an early age I wasn’t pretty. So there was quite a disconnect for me when people outside of my family would treat/react to me as being attractive and compliment my looks, etc. I remember even saying to my 2nd grade teacher “Oh no, I’m not pretty…” after she’d remarked that i was.
Totally agree! Not being told I am pretty or even being put down sometimes over my looks had a massive effect on my confidence and self esteem all my life until I really broke that toxic shit.
I am telling my daughter how beautiful she is. It is as important as to tellhow smart etc. I want my daughter to grow up with her body image confidence and to know she is beautiful and not to rush to fill the voids with lip fillers etc. I looo around at some young women and it is shocking what they doing to themselves
What we do know is plastic surgeries and cosmetics are billion dollar industries overwhelmingly aimed at girls and women. Girls and women invest much more of their thoughts, time and money towards their appearance than boys and men (even though its increasing on the male side). Social media, in particular Instagram, are especially detrimental to young girls and women’s self-esteem and how high they rate the importance of looks and appearance. Studies have also shown that focusing on women’s bodies dehumanizes them (aka objectification). Girls start worrying about their weight and looks as early as elementary school. Ugh I could go on and on. So going on about whether Gwyneth’s daughter is good at applying makeup and how pretty she is seems to be playing into that toxic culture. Doesn’t it?
Yes. I was just pointing out that in my experience your original comment “boys aren’t subjected to this” isn’t strictly true. As you confirm above.
I’m on your side!
I don’t think that you can make a black-and-white statement about these issues. It’s not true that boys have no expectations for appearance, although it is true that that generally pressure is far stronger for girls. And I think the flipside is that there is also a far narrower range of tolerated non-visual behavior for boys. There is a space in many cultures for a girl to be “athletic” or a “tomboy”, but no healthy space in those cultures for boys to have traditionally feminine traits or interests.
This. Saving “red carpet looks” (oh, celebrities) for your daughter is just gross. It sets up a pretty tight obligation and expectation. What if your daughter isn’t interested in fashion, clothes, or superficial crap?
And what if her daughter had been a larger size? That would be an eating disorder waiting to happen…
Countdown to Apple becoming the next Kaia Gerber in 3, 2, 1 . . . If I find Gwyneth insufferable I can only imagine how entitled and obnoxious her “glamorous” daughter will be.
To be fair, she didn’t call herself glamorous..
I’m getting that feeling too, like this is the beginning of the roll out of Apple Martin, celebrity.
For Apple’s sake, I hope not. She’s still very young and has all the options in the world in front of her, and should be given the opportunity to figure out for herself what she wants.
I think being a mere model is too below standard for an offspring of hers. Acting or music debut soon, yes.
I wish Apple and Moses would decide to be marine biologists, or doctors, or professors, or accountants, or any “regular” job, but I am sure that both will be nepotism performers, just like mama. She bugs.
The pink RL dress is iconic but ol’ Goopy has had some big misses over the years. I wonder if Apple will get that awful see-through goth McQueen look that came with those awful raccoon eyes. There were also a couple of really bad Prada gowns in the mix. Maybe they would look fresh and cool on Apple. Better eye makeup (and posture, Ms. Yoga Queen…) would have drastically improved the McQueen situation.
I could never figure out the allure of that pink Lauren dress. The bodice so poorly fitted and too long. It wasnt even pressed properly. I guess Apple is going to be the new “model”.
It’s such an ugly dress. Memorable but hideous.
Karen Elson wore the pink dress in a photoshoot and it looked a lot better with the bust fitted properly. Gwyneth just didn’t bother to get it tailored. If Apple had it tailored, it would probably look amazing. The color is so distinctive and flattering to blondes.
Agreed. Thought that pink Ralph Lauren dress was a fail. Did not flatter her bustline and the hairstyle was too severe. Apple is beautiful.
Agreed. It looked sloppy and cheap because of the fit, and the hairdo was very severe and unflattering. Disappointing look overall for her big night.
Apple looks like phoebe from friends! I was like who does she remind me of…phoebe!
Ok, we are officially old, as I think we all remember when Apple was born. She’s gorgeous, the best mix of her mom and dad. It’s nice to see they have a close relationship. I have two girls – 4 and 2, and I keep hearing “just WAIT until they’re teenagers!!”
Right! I was just thinking the exact same thing: “But I remember hearing that she named her baby ‘Apple’ and now she’s 16!?”
I listened to her on the Rob Lowe podcast and was impressed with how she was raised and how she is raising her kids. The fact that Apple has a retail job shows that she will hopefully not just become another model.
It’s cool that she saved a lot of her old red carpet looks for Apple.
I have a cousin Apple’s age and she’s similarly super skilled with makeup and beauty products. She’s genuinely interested in it and educates herself about products, so I think that’s cool.
I suspect Gwyneth is a narcissist and she cast Apple in the role of the golden child.
This.
Agreed. I imagine Apple has been her mini-Goop for 16 years. It will be interesting to see the impression Apple makes on the world without her mother.
I don’t think she’ll be a celebrity spawn model. Gwyneth actually has a perfect models figure but Apple looks curvier maybe shorter.
Next Gwyneth is going to say she is the first woman to have a teenage daughter.
Apple is darling and I think Gwynnie is gorgeous and so is her Mom, Blythe! Also, I loved that pink Ralph Lauren dress, as I love the color pink and thought Gwnnie looked beautiful.
Just came on to say… Apple does indeed have a goddamn gorgeous face. Beyond that I know nothing else.
She’s lovely! Ahhh to be young and skinny again… sigh
I just find it so depressing when celebs praise their offspring for being glamorous or beautiful. Not because they’re incredibly smart or won a science fair or reads a lot. But because they are thin and pretty and pose for photos and attend parties.
This. Vapid celebrity culture gets carried on by the next generation.
That is the world of celebrities, though. Many (most?) are shallow and concerned only with fame and wealth. I have a good friend who is a singer. If you talk to her about music, you would think she is brilliant. If you talk to her about other subjects, you may or may not get a reasonable answer. They know their craft and aren’t interested in a lot else. Again, not saying this is true of all.
I take Gwyneth at her word. I think she genuinely sees herself as a gawkish tomboy and “ugly duckling,” while Apple already has shades of Blythe Danner’s easy, effortless grace.
Despite being an Academy Award winner, I think Gwyn is actually underrated and underutilized (I watched the movie trailer for Proof after reading the play, and WOW). I think she may well live in her parents’ shadow, despite being more materially “successful.” I honestly feel bad for her. I think I would dislike her if she were a healthier person, but… I sense that there’s a lot more going on with her.
She sounds like a neurotic stage mom.