On one side, I enjoy the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow is in a marriage where she gets what she needs: open adoration and demonstrative love. She didn’t have that for a long time and it drove her crazy. Brad Falchuk worships Gwyneth and she loves every minute of it. On the other side, Brad and Gwyneth are incredibly annoying. Not just the over-the-top Instagram praise (which is so sugary), but the whitewashing of their entire relationship, from homewrecking both of their marriages to the real reason why they didn’t live together for a year after their wedding. With all of that in mind, please enjoy Gwyneth gooping all over Falchuk and how great their marriage is.
The honeymoon phase: “I have a little bit of a blessing that we’re still in the honeymoon phase,” the Goop founder, 49, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I am really lucky I married Brad. There is just something about us together. We’ve been able to build on all the stuff we’ve gone through in life and create something really amazing. And I’m grateful for our chemistry. That can get you through some tough spots!”
Being open with your partner: “It’s so important to be honest. If you’re trying to please somebody or be somebody you’re not, you’re lying to yourself. There are definitely times in my life when I look back and think, ‘I was not aligned with myself.’ And therefore I was in a relationship that was not positive for me.”
Therapy helps: In part thanks to “a lot of therapy,” Paltrow, who shares Apple, 17 and Moses, 15 with her ex Chris Martin whom she divorced in 2016, says she was able to recognize unhealthy patterns in her past. “We don’t like to fail, and we don’t like to be vulnerable and we white knuckle through it. We push our inner voice down. But when you start to admit the hard stuff to yourself, there’s no way back.”
What she does better now: With Falchuk, “the key has been being as accountable as possible for the negative ways I was in earlier relationships,” says Paltrow. “I have worked hard to break old patterns and work on long held intimacy issues in order to make the most out of my marriage. Divorce is never something you hope for or plan, a second marriage can be a beautiful gift.”
She doesn’t like to fight: “I’m not a good fighter. Brad is much better at it than I am. I’ll retreat to a defensive place and shut down. He’s amazing because he won’t let me out of it. It’s about accountability and showing up — and that’s really hard for me to do sometimes.”
I honestly don’t have a problem with anything she’s saying here. It sounds like she has done the work and really tried to break her own dysfunctional relationship patterns, although one could argue that the whole reason there is a second marriage is because they were both screwing around on their first spouses. That’s an enormous red flag for both of them. But whatever – they’re older and wiser now and while many people have self-destructive patterns, I don’t think that will play out in this particular case.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, IG and Avalon Red.
She just never gets tired of talking about herself and her fabulousness.
It’s all she has to promote right now! She and Brad both look ROUGH in that header photo.
I guess Goop doesn’t believe in sunscreen because ~toxins~ or whatever. I have a vague memory of her saying something to the effect of the sun is natural so it can’t harm you.
So they should use a filter to set unrealistic expectations? Or spend their time getting spa treatments and surgery? She’s 49 – this is what 49 looks like on her. We can’t bash society for misogynistic views on aging and still bash people we don’t like. I’m not a fan of hers, either.
Yeah…I’m literally just saying wear sunscreen? You can clearly see the damage, and you know…cancer. It’s pretty rich to run a “wellness” business and eschew sunscreen, but okay.
When your business is advising people on appearance, your own appearance becomes fair game. And yes her hair and skin looked dried out for her age, she’s not that old. I’m nearly 20 years older than her and I don’t have wrinkles like that around my eyes. But I’m also not as skinny as her. Some fat does help smooth things out lol.
I think she had dry-looking hair (sort of) even when she was younger. I feel that perhaps that’s possibly what her hair texture might be like. I guess I can relate — I’ve never really found a hair product that works to make it look sleek.
Yeah – maybe she should visit his skin care and hair specialist. He has better skin and hair than she does.
Part of that is because people never stop asking, for some reason.
She’s exhausting, but I don’t disagree with anything she said. I’m also remarried and a lot of what she said resonates with me.
That being said, she would wear me out in real life.
My SO has four siblings, and all five children in the family (including my SO) had “starter” marriages. They come from a conservative midwestern culture that promotes young marriage, and all of them are now in a 2nd or 3rd marriage/LTR that looks to be “the one.” No judgement. It’s perfectly normal to make bad relationship decisions young, or to make good decisions but outgrow them. So I guess congrats to Gwenyth for being human like rest of us.
@ Mcmmom, just reading about her wears me out!! Her constant need to assert that they are so happy, living like they are still in the honeymoon period is just too over the top!! A marriage created out of infidelity on both sides, historically, will not fare well as the years go by.
One day, the past will return. There may be their inner voices wondering if they were willing to cheat on their partners for this union, what makes them certain it won’t happen again?
They are not. Nobody stays in the honeymoon phase that long unless they are on drugs. 🙂
Of course they are still in the adoring honeymoon phase because we just heard about Chris Martin calling Dakota Johnson his universe lol.
I guess I missed the affair rumors about these two.
I heard he left his wife but never heard anything about Gwyneth. Also why did they live apart for a year? All I remember was conscious uncoupling, a phrase we’re now forever stuck with.
Supposedly because his children didn’t want to live with her.
I would have loved if my father didn’t force me to live with my stepmother when I was a child. But then … she would have had to get a job if they had 2 households. 🙂
At my age, I would probably be good with not living with my spouse if I were to get married. Living with people is hard.
Me, too, Spouse would need to have his own house! A friend or two. A hobby. 🙂
She’s not wrong, I’ll give her that. Although how they got together was pretty damn shady. I’m in the second go-around with the same man and we’re both better people than we were 35+ years ago. You make mistakes, you eff up, you learn from them and you learn to admit it, and most importantly, you learn to forgive. The only difference is I didn’t need years of expensive therapy to come to this conclusion.
I think she is someone who works on herself for the benefit of her relationships. She always seems happy with herself, no matter what she’s going through. I figure one would have to be someone who puts in the work to look genuinely thrilled with yourself.
But when she doles out advice she’s annoying.
If you commenters think how her and him got together is shady then you haven’t heard how Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach got together. Imagine creating a film with a 8 month pregnant wife, the screenwriter, & her husband, the director & having an on-set affair the whole time. Then when his wife/the screenwriter (Jennifer Jason Leigh) went into labor, Baumbach decided to not show up. Instead he & Gerwig went off traveling.
I’m just mentioning this bc the judgment seems to fluctuate depending on the celebs. What these two Paltrow & whatshisface did was bad but you should just as well hold to account others just bc they’re ‘ppl’s favs
Nah, don’t buy it. I grew up and around her and she was and is still so high maintenance. Saw her a couple years ago. The same, only worse. Entitled as can be (her Dad was pretty nice, and her Mom and brother are too) but she is really self absorbed and phony. Most of her employees she barely pays and most have quit. Tons more just have recently. And she delves into medical areas that she knows nothing about as well. Done with her.
I’m shocked she’d have anything to do with pedestrian phases.
She’s the kind of a**hole who one ups everyone before they can even get THEIR first “one” in.
End of conversation…before it even starts.
I’ve always been impressed by Gwyneth and regret that a lot of what I hear from/about her is through coverage about her, which is uniformly snarky.
My biggest thought lately, though, is that it is truly imperative that she turns her woke attitude towards the employees of her company, and starts giving interviews about that.
It seems to me that if I were running a wellness company that runs on the misery of workers, I could see where I needed to turn my enlightened point of view.
I always forget that she is still in her 40s because she looks and acts like someone well into their middle age. And yeah, they are super annoying.
@Simone ITA I’ve thought the same thing when I’ve listened to interviews with her when she isn’t promoting a film or product.
Gwyneth reminds me so much of the girls at my all girl private high school.
Best of intentions, caring, well read and curious but just so lost in privilege she doesn’t realise it hampers her self awareness. To the point she probably doesn’t even realise she’s claiming credit for ideas from other people and other cultures.
Like normalising conversations about sex and open communication with romantic partners important. But not everyone can access couples therapy or send $100+ on sex toys. Furthermore different bodies respond differently to different stimulus. Shaan Boody does a much better of blending science, product recommendations and actionable advice to improve ones love life.
Because Paltrow has never worried about paying her bills it probably just doesn’t occur to her that she’s mistreating her workers.
I wish she’d decide to leave her comfort zone because that would allow her to have a more nuanced, educated and inclusive perspective on the topics she cares about.
I was under the impression – probably from long-time Lainey Gossip posts – that Gwyneth and Chris Martin had an open relationship, so weren’t cheating on each other. I don’t know if that was the case for Falchuk and his ex, but that is his responsibility, not Gwyneth’s.