Gwyneth Paltrow is one of several covers for Elle Magazine’s Women In Hollywood issue. Of course she’s mostly promoting her work in her husband’s show, The Politician. But most of this (smaller) interview is actually about Goop, because that’s her main deal now. Sometimes I am sort of flabbergasted that this tiny vanity project she started in London out of boredom and elitism has turned into such a massively profitable pseudoscience emporium. You can read the full Elle piece here (the photos are actually quite nice too). Some highlights:
Goop may be full of bad science, but it’s been a huge financial success. As of 2018, it was worth $250 million, and Paltrow suggests it’s subsequently expanded beyond that. “That’s an old number,” she says. Is it higher or lower? “Of course it’s higher. Thank goodness. Oh my God.”
All of the jokes about how she doesn’t know what Marvel films she’s in. “I never read stuff. But it is confusing because there are so many Marvel movies, and to be honest, I haven’t seen very many of them. It’s really stupid and I’m sorry, but I’m a 47-year-old mother.”
Her character in The Politician seems like a parody of her actual life: “The way [my character is] as a mother is most closely based on me. He was also borrowing from other aspects of my life.” One plot point, for example, involves wealthy parents paying for their children to get into the Ivy League (oddly enough, it was written before the college admissions scandal emerged this past March). “I’m familiar with that world,” she explains.She was never ambitious when it came to her acting career: “In the ’90s, when I was coming up, it was a very male-dominated field. You used to hear, ‘That actress is so ambitious,’ like it was a dirty word.” But now, with Goop, “my ambition has been unleashed,” she admits.
Brad Falchuk on how everyone wants to see Gwyneth act more: “The reaction of most people in our lives who have seen the show is, ‘Screw you for not doing this more.”
The “Gwyneth should act more” thing has been going around, notably in a think-piece column in the New York Times several weeks ago. I don’t know how I really feel about that – one one side, I enjoy ‘90s revival and Gwyneth is Peak ‘90s. On the other side, I think calling her one of the best actresses of her generation is a bit much. Gwyneth was and is fun for gossip. Gwyneth has been a major celebrity for 25 years. Gwyneth is a better actress than most people. But I feel like she’s happier doing her Goop sh-t.
As for the “I’m a 47-year-old mother” defense for why she doesn’t know which Marvel movies she’s in… eh, I kind of understand. What I don’t understand is how she can blank out on her COWORKER Sebastian Stan every time they meet!
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, cover courtesy of Elle.
What an insufferable bore.
She needs to quit being so far up her own ass – no one has been begging her to come back to acting. People have too many real world problems to deal with without worrying about when an entitled, rich pseudoscience queen is going to grace the screen again.
And her constant schtick about not remembering what Marvel movies she’s been in and with whom is old and needs to stop. It’s rude and disrespectful to her costars to behave as if it was all so below her that she can’t even be bothered to remember anyone. Marvel has its own problems and weaknesses, but most of the folks involved in the Avengers franchise seem to have had fun with the movies and each other. No one forced her to sign up.
She is SUCH a stuck up bore and your analysis is spot on! It’s a shame too because I’m having my second girl and we liked the name Gwyneth but it is just so tied to her.
Naming my kid Francesca.
THANKS GWYNETH!
Francesca is a beautiful name. You’re right, the name Gwyneth is forever tied to this trick.
Congrats Escondista! Gwyneth is very much a pretty and classic name,but honestly Francesca -LOVE.
Nobody owns a name so do what you want,but yeah Gwyneth will remind many of goopy.Then again a child grows into their name,so choose what makes you happiest.
Ah thanks much. This site become so much fun when you develop a relationship with fellow posters.
Grew up with an amazing Francesca and love it. It’s slightly unusual name but a classic.
Amen!
I’m a 37 year old mother of three and I work and go to school full time. I have seen all the marvel movies. What am I missing here? This explanation sucks 😂
Exactly. I’m a 37 year old mother of two and I’ve seen all the marvel movies as well. I think Gwyneth means that she’s just not into that sort of thing. And that’s fine. Why not just be honest about that?
I have seen every Marvel movie BECAUSE I am a 47 year old mother of 4.
^^ This. I mostly enjoy the Marvel movies, but if I wasn’t mom to two pre-teen boys, not sure I, a 43-year-old mother, would have seen ALL of them.
Ditto. I see the movies because of my kids!
Which is why I don’t get her explanation. She is saying her kids don’t watch the movies either?
This. 1000% this. I have seen Marvel movies largely BECAUSE I am a mom.
This exactly. Some I did want to see but I’ve seen them all because I’m a mother of two boys. I’m 50
That makes way more sense to me. Don’t her kids watch them? Or maybe they don’t because she’s in them?
I am a 44 year old mom of one.I don’t think I’ve ever seen a marvel movie.I don’t know why,but one has nothing to do with the other.
As a 43 year old mother of one, I suggest you make time for Thor. You don’t need any other marvel movies except that one.
Watch Thor Ragnarok, the first Iron Man and Black Panther. They are about the best of the Marvel bunch.
Thanks @ Lady and Lady D -always appreciate a good movie or book recommendation!
I’m a 49 year old mother of two and I have seen every single one. With kids and adults of varying tastes, the Marvel movies were the few things we could agree on seeing as a family.
An actress that’s too busy to see movies??? 🤔🤔
As parents we have to watch what our kids watch, at least I think so. Maybe their kids are not into Marvel films. At least she should read up who is who for respect out of her costars. Where I work there are at least 80 people and I don’t know their names, but I’d never ask like she did in front of cameras hey, who is that?, or why is he here? I’d smile politely and greet them like if I remember them, as I have a small hard disk in my brain and have to do so anyway.
I thought the same way, ennie. I watched what interested my son, and I made sure to read 2-4 books of whatever series he was reading. I thought it was part of my responsibility as a parent to know what was influencing him.
I haven’t seen any of them, they’re just not my thing, but I wouldn’t use it as a measure of superiority. I enjoy lots of different types of movies and tv shows that other people may hate. She’s just an obnoxious brat.
I’ve been watching superhero movies since I was a kid. Had my first son at 24, and he began movie excitement around three and four. My second son was born when I was 31, and he demanded superhero viewership earlier than his older brother because…older brother. My third son was born when I was 40. His superhero love began at two. He had to wear costumes to every movie as a toddler. I now have two adult sons and an almost 14-year-old who schedule family movie outings whenever their superhero favs hit the screens be Marvel or DC. I’m older than Miss Goop Grift, and being a mother forced my hand into superhero universes. Frak the ignoramus that is poop goop.
I’m a 51 year old mother. And that is WHY I have seen most of the Marvel movies. I was watching them with my kid and their friends – either by taking them when they were younger or having them sprawled out in my living room and watching them on Netflix. I might not have gone to see them without the kids (OK, I would have seen Wonder Woman & Captain Marvel, regardless).
If it means she’d spend less time promoting her snake oil nonsense to potentially unintelligent and/or vulnerable women? Then yes she should act more. Lots more. But the reality is no one cares when she’s not Iron Man’s girlfriend, so there won’t be much push for it.
Um if you have children, I would think it would be perfectly normal to see a lot of Marvel movies. My co-workers with children know all the Marvel movies
Exactly. Does she not allow her kids to see those films? I’ve seen all of them with my 3 kids, ages 13 to 17. Very strange thing to say.
It’s her JOB to know the Marvel universe. Shame on her.
She needs to build a bridge and get over herself.
Boom! I completely agree.
Ha! Perfect.
“I’m not emotionally invested in these movies. I only did them for the paycheck.” There, fixed it for you.
Yup. And, honestly, it sounds no more exhausting than the, “I’m too busy and pretentious to watch this commoner crap,” story she’s going with now.
What’s with all the rich actors who are like, ‘Oh, I don’t own a TV, I read.’ Bitch, I read, too, and I also watch TV. It’s not exclusive. You don’t see a lot of people in other professions implying their own industries are only for the dumb (which is ALWAYS the undertone). The CEO of Exxon isn’t all, ‘Oh, I don’t use oil. I drive an electric car and live in all solar house.’ … And that’s a business that’s actively killing the planet!
Like what you like, watch what you want, skip what you don’t, but I just can’t with celebrities who act like patronizing the industry that made them rich and famous is somehow beneath them.
I don’t think she did them for the paycheck but more for the ‘still have a toe in the acting world even thou I am now a full time snake oil saleswoman’. Outside Marvel the only roles she’s getting are the ones from her new husband – the industry ain’t begging her to come back. Her acting career has been over for years.
IIRC she only got the Pepper Pots role because of RDJ. Didn’t he recommend her or something?
She’s embarrassing.
also, her being ‘not ambitious’ in her acting career is hilarious. she knows exactly how she got that oscar…Weinstein knows too…
Are you shaming her?
Maybe many women were abused and raped by Weinstein, but I suspect many people, men and women, straight and not, look for chances in ways different than a casting appointment.
I know people (fellow women) in my field who have blatantly gotten opportunities by doing more than hugging or shaking hands with representatives or union bosses. I was hugged goodbye by a union boss who I considered a family friend, that particular hug was weird and an invitation to something else. I scurried out of there and never came back, even tho I needed more work. It was my choice, and I suspect others took up the chance, maybe others were forced. I could never even tell my mom about this, and since it was something that could have been “misinterpreted”, I only dared to whisper about it in the down low with my coworkers, not telling names. I never heard anything bad from him from other women, tho.
Gwyneth knew about Weinstein and still she worked with him for many movies, benefiting from him. Good for her for having spoken up about what happened with her, even with family relations, and how Brad defended her,but others weren’t lucky.
Ugh. I am as left as it gets and even I am annoyed by the “are you shaming” culture. Sometimes we are just calling shit out.
Gwyneth skyrocketed to fame because of her family connections and her relationship with Brad Pitt. Are we so PC that we can’t call shit out anymore? Gwyneth kissed Harvey’s ass publicly for years and probably made it easier for him to abuse other women because she normalized him. She called him Uncle Harvey! Yeah, that happened. So yes, I am shaming GP for being a chick who got famous because of who she dated and leveraged her professional relationship with Weinstein into an Oscar. She NORMALIZED him publicly for years!
I didn’t get that she wasn’t ambitious as an actress in the 90s just that it was a dirty word in the 90s. And just for ACTRESSES. I remember how male dominated the industry was then, even worse than now. It was all “how f**kable is she”.
It’s a travesty that she won over Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth and Emily Watson in Hilary and Jackie.
She only won that Oscar because Harvey brought it for her. I don’t know what she had to do for that Oscar but she definitely had to something. It’s not “shaming” its called pointing out the obvious. Everyone knows why Harvey made things happen for certain actresses.
I have no idea what her relationship really was with Weinstein, but her parents were/Are actors and her godfather is Stephen Spielberg, so she had plenty of connections even before she started dating Brad Pitt. There’s also a (very persistent) rumour that she swiped the script for “Shakespeare in Love” from her then-friend Winona Ryder’s house…
I think she is saying she is ambitious. But in the 90s the word wasn’t considered acceptable for a woman. But now she can unleash her ambition through entrepreneurship. In my opinion, entrepreneurship does give her freedom to create her own projects rather than ask to be hired by someone else in Hollywood acting.
On another note, I think Gwyneth is a strange combination of dumb and smart at the same time.
I recently watched Glee again and her episodes as Holly Holiday were AMAZING! She is a total twat waffle in interviews, but I loved her character. Maybe it was all the extramarital sex with Brad in her trailer that helped the role! 😉
She was good on Glee,I’ll give her that.Otherwise she means nothing to me.
Right?! I’m currently re-watching Glee as well, and she was great in it.
I would think she would have seen these movies BECAUSE she is a mother. I mean, WTF?? She is such a snob
The excuse makes no sense. I am 47 and have 4 kids and have also never seen a Marvel movie but my kids have because they go with friends. It’s not my schtick tbh (but given I’ve never seen one how would I really know).
But if I was in one of them I’d see every one. It’s incredibly unprofessional for her to say these things. And anyway I think it’s bull——. She just wants people to think she hasn’t seen one. It’s prob some lie she’s been caught out in and now has to continue to spin.
54 year old mother. I’ve seen almost all of the with my kids.
She was absolutely terrible as Pepper Potts and I always wondered if they regretted getting stuck with her.
Everyone I knows thinks she awful so I have no clue who is begging her to act.
I haven’t seen all the movies but her role has been consistently reduced IIRC. Her screen time is pretty much only a few mins at most.
I love how she is trying to make it seem as if she isn’t acting much by choice. Please. She isn’t a very good actress. The only movie I liked her in was Royal Tennenbaums. She was just fair to middling in every other role including Shakespeare in Love. She did NOT deserve that Oscar.
She can maybe be excused from not knowing the Marvel movies she wasn’t in. But not knowing the ones she’s actually in is inexcusable.
We know her acting resume but, despite the buzz….which presumably drives clicks to the site… do we really know that Goop is a financially successful venture? It’s private ( so no numbers available) and clicks don’t necessary translate into sales.
Apparently her convention was packed.
OK, but remember, no numbers for her company, so who knows? It’s a start up website that is moving into developing and selling products. WeWork was supposedly worth 47 billion till they released the numbers for the IPO and realized they were bleeding cash and may soon fail.
I wonder that myself, how is it worth THAT much? I don’t know anyone who actually buys stuff from it ($890 for a white sweater, no thank you), most of the talk and publicity about it is negative given their habit of promoting false, if not dangerous, ideas.
She’s a pretentious, dangerous twat, peddling her pseudo-science crap to women with more money and time than brains, who need the newest, shiniest “toy” to feel like they belong with other monied, mindless twats.
Sorry, but I cannot stand Paltrow. I always want to just smack the smug out of her. But then, I guess there wouldn’t be much left, would there?
Ridiculous woman. Ridiculous cover photo with her hands on her head and “I’m just so much better than all of you” bored look on her face.
She’s insulted because they stated her company was only worth $250 million? That’s more of an eye roll than not knowing which Marvel films she’s been in.
With all that money you’d think she’d be able to afford a better hair stylist – instead she continues to have the same dried out over dyed hair.
My 66 year old mother has seen every Marvel movie. Meanwhile I’m 25 with no kids and yet there were some Marvel movies that I’ve watched only because of movie marathon night at my parents’ at Christmas. Her excuse just doesn’t make sense at all.
I’m a 44 year old mother and that’s the only reason I HAVE seen Marvel movies. It’s a fun activity I can do with my 10 year old son and a way for us to bond.
She was never ambitious about her acting career because she never HAD to be. Her acting career was handed to her on a silver platter.
She comes across as so unprofessional. She will star in Marvel movies and take their money, but they’re not good enough to watch? I wouldn’t want someone with that lack of integrity starring in any film I was directing!
But she is IN those movies. Does she not have any memory of showing up for work? This makes no sense. Plus are we supposed to believe she spends 24/7 with her kids? Their dad gets them half the time ! Also, I’m guessing her kids don’t watch Marvel movies then? Or do they go watch them without her because they are in that pre-teen/teen phase where they are embarrassed by their parents?
If the average person (whether it be a 47-year-old mother or otherwise) doesn’t keep up with the latest shows or movies or whatever, I’m not going to judge them. We all have our own preferences, and who cares if our taste overlaps pop culture?
But it’s her freaking job! She’s IN the movies. There’s no excuse for not knowing the vehicle she’s in. At very least, her acting would be richer for understanding how her story fits into the full picture.
How can you be a mom of tweens and not be schlepping them to superhero movies? My kid doesn’t even like most superheroes and we’ve still seen them. His one exception is Captain America, which is fine with me because I don’t blank out Sebastian Stan. My kid can have Winter Soldier on all he wants and mom doesn’t mind!
To all of the mothers here claiming your age and Marvel films – Gwyneth is just a little more adult than you, you know? You’re just not as sophisticated and grown. I mean, that’s what she’s saying, right?
Calm down, Gwinnie.
That was sarcasm, dear.
Does she not have a PA? I accept that Marvel movies are filmed in such a way (and she has such a small part in most of them) that she may not be on set with many of her co-stars but surely she could quietly ask her staff rather than announcing in public that she doesn’t know who people are.
Also, Sebastian Stan was at invitation only parties so it’s not like she was approached by a random man on the street!
In the cover pic she looks like she thinks she’s the hottest thing in the universe. It is actually the blue steel look Ben Stiller has in his movie. And that’s supposed to be ironic. Hers is honest-to-God-sincere. Her one true love is herself! The ego on this one.
52 year old mother of 2 (3 if you count my husband) and I’ve seen them all.
I came here for the comments; never disappointed. Sometimes I’m not at all interested in the article, but if there’s a hefty number of comments *CLICK!*….
I am amazed at the cover. Is this the best photo they had?? There is zero charisma evident in that shot. It’s bland,bland, bland.
who knows, maybe Sebastian Stan called her out on her obnoxious pretentiousness and she emotionally de-marvelled herself. or her kids are not marvel fans. or what am i saying? it’s Gwyneth! she’s too sophisticated for normality
Jennifer Anniston must have been to the same mascara party as Gwyn. She’s yammering on Daily Mail about Marvel movies. They are both so boring and full of themselves.
People freaking out about Paltrow not seeing the movies should chill out. We all know she doesn’t know which is which because she probably films all her cameos at once. She had no idea which goes where. I also doubt she knew back in 2008-nearly 12 years ago!!!-that this was going to blow up like it did. She’s like getting a million dollars to put on a red wig and act exasperated with RDJ for five minutes over the phone or whatever it is now.
Her kids probably go with their dad or nanny to see the movies and she never sees them because she doesn’t care for them. It’s not worth having a cow over. Someone above said it was “her job” to know the movies and that’s laughable. Like even the big actors probably can’t tell you what the hell is going on in those movies either. They probably shoot so much of them at different times and so much on green screen, it probably resembles nothing like what they thought it would be while shooting. They memorize some buzzy statements about character motivation for interviews. People are kidding themselves that these actors who are just doing their jobs care about this at all beyond the money.
lol this is the worst application of “I’m a mom!” that I’ve ever seen.