Gwyneth Paltrow's Early Life
Gwyneth Paltrow was born in Los Angeles on September 28, 1972, to actress Blythe Danner and the late TV producer Bruce Paltrow. Her younger brother Jake Paltrow is a director and screenwriter, and her godfather is the one and only Steven Spielberg.
She was raised first in Los Angeles, where she attended the famous Crossroads School, before finishing out her high school career at another famed private school, Spence, an all-girls school in New York City.
Gwyneth Paltrow's Acting Career
Gwyneth's acting debut came courtesy of her father Bruce, when she starred in 1989's High, which he directed.
She found further success throughout the nineties and early aughts, with notable roles in movies such as Seven, Emma, Sliding Doors, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Royal Tenenbaums, and more. She won her first Academy Award, for Best Actress, at the 1999 Oscars for her role in Shakespeare in Love.
Though she later reduced her acting workload after launching Goop, other notable roles of hers are as Holly Holiday on Glee – for which she won a Primetime Emmy and through which she met her second husband Brad Falchuk – and as Pepper Potts, Iron Man's wife, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop
In 2008, Gwyneth launched the weekly lifestyle newsletter Goop, which she eventually expanded into a wellness website and brand, and through which she has created a podcast, a wellness summit, several food and retail pop-ups, a print magazine, a clothing label, and more.
The name Goop comes from her nickname, GP, and the fact that, she has said, someone once told her that successful internet companies have double "O" in their name.
Goop has been both mocked and lauded on the internet and beyond over the peculiar products it promotes and sells, some of which include jade eggs, a vibrator necklace, the infamous "This Smells Like My Vagina" candle, and beyond. As of 2023, the company is reportedly valued at $250 million.
Gwyneth Paltrow's Personal Life
Throughout the 1990s, Gwyneth was romantically linked to previous co-stars Brad Pitt, who she was engaged to, and Ben Affleck, both of whom she has said she remains friends with.
She married Coldplay frontman Chris Martin in 2003, and they welcomed their first child, daughter Apple Martin, the following year, plus son Moses in 2006. In 2014, the couple shocked fans when they announced their separation, and famously coined the term "conscious uncoupling." She filed for divorce in 2015 and it was finalized the following year.
In 2015, Gwyneth and Glee producer Brad Falchuk went public with their relationship, five years after they met on the set of the hit Ryan Murphy show. They announced their engagement in 2018, and tied the knot the same year.
In March 2023, Gwyneth won a trial over a 2019 ski collision in Park City, Utah with a retired optometrist, Terry Sanderson, who sued the Goop founder for $300,000. Following a televised trial, a jury found that Gwyneth was not at fault, and she was awarded a symbolic $1 in damages.
