These days, Gwyneth Paltrow is not hungry for her next acting gig. She spends most of her time running her lifestyle brand Goop along with being a mother of two kids and wife to American Horror Story co-creator Brad Falchuk. Over the last few years, she has been candid about her general disinterest in starring in movies anymore (but she wouldn’t necessarily say no to another Marvel cameo). And well, she does already have an Oscar to her name, though she had to hide out at her parents' after she won it.
Gwyneth Paltrow took home her Oscar at the 1999 Academy Awards after sharing the category with Cate Blanchett, Fernanda Montenegro, Emily Watson and Meryl Streep. She was 26 years old at the time of her Best Actress win. And how did she take it at the time? Here’s how she recalls it:
In L.A., everybody was so supportive, and then I remember winning and feeling like the tide sort of turned and there was this feeling of when you have that much attention on you and that much energy, it was really, really overwhelming. I remember I was staying with my parents at their house in Santa Monica, and I just kind of hid for three weeks afterward. It was so intense. Lonely is the right word. It was really strange.
Paltrow reflected on the Oscar win while stopping by on Anna Faris’ podcast Unqualified. The 48-year-old said that at the time of her win, her father had been recovering from cancer, and she had been very much focused on her family and his health. When she got nominated for her role in Shakespeare in Love she described it as the “weirdest, most surreal time” that had all sorts of thoughts flurrying, such as imposter syndrome and the belief that everyone must hate her for being nominated for the coveted prize.
When you win an Oscar, you instantly become the talk of the town, and that’s what happened to Gwyneth Paltrow, for better and for worse, when she nabbed the prize in 1999. She said she felt like she needed to just hide out at her parents house, and she apparently did for three weeks. Her mother is Blythe Danner, who is also an award-winning actress, and her father was director/producer Bruce Paltrow, who died in 2002 due to complications from cancer.
At the time of her win, Gwyneth Paltrow was doing project after project after project, including The Royal Tenenbaums and Shallow Hal. As she’s since opened up about, she got super burned out a few years after winning her Oscar and decided not to take a major role since. She has however become well-known for playing Pepper Potts in seven Marvel films.
Gwyneth Paltrow recently spoke out about the continued symptoms she has felt almost a year after contracting COVID-19 with husband Brad Falchuk. Her latest role was in Netflix’s The Politician, which Falchuk co-created. During this year’s Oscars, the Best Actress nominations on the table are for either Viola Davis, Andra Day, Vanessa Kirby, Frances McDormand and Carey Mulligan. This year’s Academy Awards are being held on Sunday, April 25.
