Gwyneth Paltrow deigns to acknowledge saving a peasant’s life on 9/11

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A few weeks ago, we found out that Gwyneth Paltrow “saved a life” on 9/11 by almost running down a woman on the streets of New York. The woman was walking to work and Dame Goop almost crashed her Mercedes into her. The woman was late for the subway, so she late for work at the World Trade Center, thus, her life was saved. To Goop’s credit, SHE wasn’t the one pushing the story or publicizing it, it was all this woman who lived to tell the tale. Gwyneth’s publicist only confirmed the details. But now that Goop is in Venice promoting a film, she took the time to talk about it:

Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t mean to be a hero on September 11, 2001 — but, thanks to post-yoga class encounter with a jaywalking pedestrian named Lara Lundstrom Clarke in downtown Manhattan, she became one.

Last month, Clarke recounted her “Sliding Doors moment,” in which she had an awkward stand-off with Paltrow (in her Mercedes SUV) on Seventh Avenue — thereby making her miss her train to work at the World Trade Center. (By the time Clarke arrived, the first tower was already falling.)

Promoting her flick Contagion at the Venice Film Festival, Paltrow, 37, acknowledged receiving a letter from Clarke and recounted her own version of that day.

“Basically, what happened was I had gone to a yoga class very early,” Paltrow explained.

“I was on the way home and it was the morning of September 11 — not that I knew at the time what that meant — and a girl was jaywalking across the street and we kind of both stopped at the same time and waited a really long time,” said Paltrow.

“Ten years later I got a letter from her saying that she had been late for work and we had that thing and she went down to the Christopher Street station to catch her train to go down to the World Trade Center where she worked on the 77th floor of the South Tower and the train was just pulling out,” the Oscar winner and mother of two continued.

“It was an extraordinary story and all I could think about is all of the people who had experiences like that that day, but aren’t able to reach out because it wasn’t a recognizable person,” Paltrow pointed out. “I think a lot of fates were changed that day obviously and I am very humbly happy to be a part of her story.”

[From Us Weekly]

I like Gwyneth’s emphasis on how the woman was “jaywalking”. Which makes it okay that Goop almost ran her down in her Mercedes, I guess. No, I won’t make fun of it. Gwyneth is handling the situation the best way she can. It’s not like she’s “pulling a Goop” and starting the conversation like, “My dear friend, this peasant, says I’m a national hero. Beyonce said my dancing is heroic too. It must be true. I demand a monument in my honor!” I also like the point that Goop made about how many people have similar stories of that day, but aren’t able to find their “heroes” because the people were just normal, ordinary people.

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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21 Responses to “Gwyneth Paltrow deigns to acknowledge saving a peasant’s life on 9/11”

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  1. Dani says:

    She cannot help but spew judgements. “jaywalking.” LoL.

  2. Julie says:

    Like that she isn’t a cat face or botoxed to death. Pretty suprising. She’d look better skin and facewise with 10 lbs.

  3. Liz says:

    Please bitch. This is NYC – jaywalking isn’t a thing unless it is blatantly ill- advised. Pedestrians always have the right of way here. But also, the rest of her answer was well built.

  4. Juliet says:

    She drives a Mercedes? But Mercedes Benz is for the nouveau riche!

    I wonder what real upper class people think of her and her husband. She comes off as very pretentious. Chris Martin studied at a private school in the UK but it is only a tier 2/tier 3 school at best. Google the term MPSIA for more.

  5. kazoo says:

    juliet, what car brand do the old money prefer?

    LOL this is what came up when i googled MPSIA: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=66913&page=4

  6. Annaloo says:

    Ugh. Her humblebrag ego is big enough as it is. Next.

  7. jover says:

    I despise many things about goopy, but especially her pretentious pseudo-intellectualism; she’s no intellectual, possesses no academic or scholarly credentials, but is treated as such only because today’s media is even more low brow than the goopster.

  8. Juliet says:

    Kazoo, from my experience the upper class people drive really really old cars and will only throw it away after a decade or so. Frugal? Maybe.

    Mercedes, BMW, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, all nouveau riche cars, or for those who like to be ostentatious (hello Arabs!)

    Good find on that link by the way, the comments are funny to read.

  9. Saskia says:

    She’s starting to look SO MUCH like her mother. There’s always been a resemblance, but it’s gotten a lot stronger in recent years. It’s especially striking in the photos where she’s wearing the beige dress with the neck brace collar and dust ruffle skirt. Not that Blythe Danner has a tendency to run around in neck braces and dust ruffles. In the face though, Goopy looks more like her mother every year.

  10. mimi says:

    No matter what she says, she is irritating.

  11. @Saskia – I was just thinking that too, that she looks like her mother. Must be a nice feeling to look at your amazing looking mother who has aged beautifully and think, yup, that’s what I have coming to me. The Goops age well, has to be said.

  12. smh says:

    how old is this woman? she looks no less than 60 to me…

  13. mia girl says:

    Whenever I click on a Gwyneth Paltrow post I get my eyes ready for the inevitable “roll”…

    But, this time, I think her take/answers were actually reasonable and thoughtful. I give her credit for how she responded.

  14. NaomiCampbellsPhone says:

    LOL that second to last pic looks like she’s doing the Royal wave!

    “Do not fret, peasants! I’m not trying to run you down, I’m saving you from the terrorists!”

  15. Nymeria says:

    @ Juliet – Nice job slapping a label onto one particular ethnicity. (Please note, as text does not convey tone, that my post is made in the spirit of sarcasm.)

  16. LeeLoo says:

    I can’t hate on the goop. She was a spoiled Hollywood brat child and now she’s a spoiled Hollywood brat adult with some semblance of an acting career. Her bratiness is somewhat entertaining but she does seem more together than a lot of Hollywood and a lot more human.

  17. ManicPixieDreamGirl says:

    She comes off very pretentious, but I doubt she’s all that bad. Having Jay-Z and Beyonce as bff’s gives her a little more street cred and makes her seem less uptight. Brilliant PR move.

  18. lucy2 says:

    Her response was alright, but I wish the media would quit throwing around the word “hero” connected with this story, particularly when there were so many REAL heroes on that day.

  19. Magsy says:

    Get over yourself. How many other people has she almost ran over on other non-911 days? Her entitlement kills me.
    It wasn’t even a good reason, coming from Yoga Class where you just destressed and you’re hauling ass in the city. Hypocrite. At least the so called jaywalker was running to work.

  20. Melissa says:

    I know most here don’t (my spell check tried to make “don’t”…”dong”) like her, but I adore G.

  21. smh says:

    Some years ago she said something to the effect of: “if 9/11 happened in england, they wouldn’t have endlessly wailed and moaned about it like us” i cannot find the exact quote on google because it is seemingly invaded by this curiously late story of how she supposedly saved a life. and waited for about 10 years later to brag about it. riiight.