OK, OK. We know we’ve been hitting the Gwyneth Paltrow beat pretty heavily lately. (Jerry Seinfeld hosted her wedding rehearsal dinner; she loves to hire moms; she recently opened up about her postpartum depression.)
But this story is too good to miss. In an interview with Marie Claire UK, she opens up about how her dad (Jewish director Bruce Paltrow) once told her she was being, well, something of a putz.
When she was 27, she explains, her dad took her aside and told her she was “becoming an asshole.” The Goop founder tells the story simply: “I was just believing my own hype, thinking that I was super-awesome. And he was like, ‘You’re getting weird — you’re acting like a dick.'”
Paltrow continues, “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.”
She ends on a self-reflective note: “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.”
After those insightful comments, Paltrow says she re-assessed her life. Her dad’s death from cancer in 2002 — when she was just 30 — pushed her to enter the wellness industry, she says.
And now, Goop is worth a staggering $250 million. Sometimes tough love is the best kind of love, amirite?
