For a little over 10 full years, actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin were married. However, as so many romances in the Hollywood sphere go, the couple eventually separated and ultimately divorced (with a “conscious uncoupling” unfolding in the middle). Nowadays, Martin is dating Fifty Shades of Grey actress Dakota Johnson, and Paltrow very much approves of that relationship.
Oftentimes couples separating can be a messy process, and even if the two individuals can work out an amicable new dynamic with one another, one person might not be a fan of the other’s new romantic partner. Not so with Gwyneth Paltrow, as she had the following positive words to say about Dakota Johnson:
I love her. I can see how it would seem weird because it's sort of unconventional. I think, in this case, just having passed through it iteratively, I just adore her. I always start to think of the ampersand sign — what else can you bring in, instead of being resistant to or being made insecure by? There's so much juice in leaning in to something like that.
Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson started dating in October 2017, and Johnson and Gwyneth Paltrow’s friendship sparked the following year. Both women attended Ellen DeGeneres’ birthday party in February 2018, with Johnson coming as Martin’s plus one. While it’s unclear if Johnson and Paltrow interacted during that event, they most certainly had face time with each other when they celebrated Thanksgiving 2018 together, with Martin, his and Paltrow’s children, and Paltrow’s new husband, Brad Falchuk, also in attendance.
From that point forward, Gwyneth Paltrow and Dakota Johnson’s friendship blossomed, with the two of them going on double dates with their respective significant others and attending more of the same events. Paltrow even reportedly convinced Martin to get back together with Johnson when the two briefly split up in summer 2019. So even though Martin and Paltrow’s time as husband and wife came to and end, not only are the two of them still quite cordial, Paltrow scored a friendship in the process.
Later in her interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Gwyneth Paltrow mentioned that Chris Martin isn’t the only ex she remains tight with, adding that one of her high school boyfriends, Tony Woods, is still one of her best friends, and that she still talks with Brad Pitt. However, can she say she’s friends with any of those men’s romantic partners? I won’t be so bold as to rule that possibility out entirely, but it definitely seems like she has something special with Dakota Johnson.
Although Gwyneth Paltrow spends a lot of her time nowadays running her lifestyle and wellness company Goop, she has done some acting recently. Paltrow reprised the MCU’s Pepper Potts for Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and she starred as Georgina Hobart in the Netflix drama series The Politician. Paltrow has also used the aforementioned streaming service to plug Goop with the documentary series The Goop Lab.
As for Dakota Johnson, she starred earlier this year alongside Tracee Ellis Ross in The High Note, while her credits from last year included Wounds, The Peanut Butter Falcon and Our Friend. She’s next set to appear in The Lost Daughter, which co-stars Olivia Colman and Peter Sarsgaard. This year also saw Johnson popping up in the Coldplay music video for the song “Cry Cry Cry.”
Should there be any more exciting developments in Gwyneth Paltrow and Dakota Johnson’s friendship, we here at CinemaBlend will let you know. For now, look through our 2021 release schedule to learn what movies are intended to come out next year.
