Ahead of her wedding to TV supremo Brad Falchuk, Gwyneth Paltrow explained just how much she really wasn’t considering tying the knot after her divorce from Chris Martin.
‘I think that marriage is a really beautiful, noble and worthwhile institution, pursuit and endeavour,’ she said, adding that all of these wonderful things take work, ‘Because I don’t think you get married and that’s it – I think it’s the beginning. You create this third entity, this third being that you have to nourish and look after.’
There was a period after that unconscious coupling from Chris Martin after 13 years of marriage that Gwyneth didn’t think marriage, would ever be worth it, she told Marie Claire: ‘For a while, I thought, I don’t know if I’d ever do it again. I have my kids – what’s the point?’
But then Brad came along and everything changed, ‘And then I met this incredible man, who made me think, no, this person is worth making this commitment to. I’m very much the marrying kind. I love being a wife. I love making a home.’
Falchuk wasn’t the only Brad she bigged up in the interview, as she told of how her ex, Brad Pitt, defended her against Harvey Weinstein, who denies all accusations of non-consensual sex: ‘I am so grateful to Brad, because he leveraged his power and fame to protect me – when I was no one – and he scared Harvey.’
She continued: 'And if it hadn’t been for him, I don’t know if I’d have gotten fired, or what. But instead, Harvey was like, OK, let’s put it behind us. I think he wanted to keep Brad on side.’
And there’s another man in her life she says she’s indebted to: her late father. As a Hollywood veteran himself, he had great tips for the actress to keep her head screwed on, saying he helped knock her down a peg or two when she got too starry: ‘I was just believing my own hype, thinking that I was super-awesome. And [my Dad] was like, “You’re getting weird – you’re acting like a dick”.
‘When you achieve the kind of fame that I did by the time I was 25 or 26, the world starts removing all your obstacles because you’re now a “special person”. You don’t have to wait in line at a restaurant, and if a car doesn’t show up, someone else gives you theirs.
'There is nothing worse for the growth of a human being than not having obstacles and disappointments, and things go wrong. All of my greatest achievements have come out of failure.’
We wonder what obstacles she might put in the way of her own kids, Moses and Apple. Maybe it’s as simple as having to go to school with kids who know your mum sells vagina jade eggs.