Gwyneth Paltrow's new groove
Natural Woman: Gwyneth Paltrow for The EDIT, photographed by Chris Colls and styled by Senior Style Editor Tracy Taylor. Gwyneth wears pajama shirt, part of a set, by Goop; shorts by Madewell; bracelet by Foundra.
"I’ve had an extraordinary life, where things have happened in a huge way – huge success, huge joy, huge pain, huge loss. And the reason I feel happy today is because I’ve milked the f*** out of every opportunity," says Gwyneth Paltrow in an interview with this week's edition of The EDIT. "I haven’t made one mistake that I haven’t used as a stepping stone to get somewhere else. I’m ruthless when it comes to using the hard things.” As the founder of wellness and luxury lifestyle brand Goop, the 44-year-old American actress has received her fair share of criticism for the site's unconventional health and beauty recommendations, but Paltrow offers: “It’s got a few layers to it. People were fine with me as an actress, but with Goop it was like, ‘Stay in your lane.’ Women in general get a lot of pushback, especially if you’re successful and attractive.”
The Lightness Of Being: "People are coming around to consciously uncoupling. It’s dorky but it’s worthwhile," Paltrow says. Photographed by Chris Colls, the actress-entrepreneur wears shirt by The Great; bikini top by Fella.
The mother of two also recalls what she has learned from her split with Coldplay frontman, Chris Martin: “I wanted to turn my divorce into a positive. What if I didn’t blame the other person for anything, and held myself 100% accountable? What if I checked my own s*** at the door and put my children first? And reminded myself about the things about my ex-husband that I love, and fostered the friendship? What I put myself through to get there was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Paltrow says she stands by the term “consciously uncoupling” – the phrase that she and Martin used when announcing their divorce in 2014 – despite the initial controversy: “People are coming around. I know it’s a dorky term, but it’s very worthwhile. I’m always the person who gets s*** at first, but then later people say, ‘Hey, maybe that’s a good idea.’ I don’t mind,” she tells The EDIT. Here, a few interview highlights:
Gwyneth Paltrow on her body changing with age: “I used to exercise for two hours a day... An hour of cardio and an hour of weights. But there’s just no time anymore. I’m getting old, my back hurts! It’s depressing. Some days, the gym gives me this rush of energy and I feel amazing, but then my body’s like, ‘F*** you.’”
On detoxing and eating French fries: “I can’t be on a cleanse all the time. I did one for seven weeks last year and it was awful. My first meal of the day is normally lunch; I keep it light on carbs so my energy levels don’t peak and valley through the day. At home, I loosen the reins: a glass of wine, maybe a baguette dripping in cheese, some fries. On vacation, I eat what I want – and there’s no exercising, either.”
On her decision to take a break from acting: “I was burned out! Doing back-to-back films in my twenties took it out of me.”
On launching Goop and her fear of failure: “Acting was my identity. Who am I, if I’m not that? There was a weird period when I wasn’t starring in films or running a successful business, so I was kind of nowhere. I thought, what if this just isn’t going to be successful?”
On starting Goop from her kitchen table: “I made this tiny database so my friends would stop f****** calling me. [...] For Goop to scale up, it needs to not be dependent on my name.”
On her children, Apple, 13, and Moses, 11, growing up in the public eye: “They passed laws a couple of years ago about [paparazzi] not harassing children, so I take them everywhere with me like a shield – they’re good for something! [...] My kids can handle [fame]. They know their lives are extraordinary. And girls today are allowed to be anything; they’re self- possessed, confident, they like themselves. In Apple’s peer group, I don’t see the insecurity I saw at that age.”
To read the full interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, go to The EDIT or download The EDIT’s free app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Watch the exclusive film here.