Like many young actors, Gwyneth Paltrow had to navigate life in the public eye when she got her start in the industry. And as she looks back on her career now, the 48-year-old says that the intense public scrutiny she faced early on actually made her reevaluate her acting aspirations.
In a new interview with SiriusXM’s Quarantined with Bruce radio show, the star of "The Politician" opens up about her decision to transition away from acting and reveals that she lost her passion for the craft after a while.
"I think that when you hit the bullseye, when you're 26 years old and you're a metrics-driven person who, frankly, doesn't love acting that much as it turns out...I was kinda like, ‘okay, I, I don't,’ it wasn't like, I felt like this isn't worth doing," she explained. "I sort of felt like, well, now who am I supposed to be? Like, what am I, what am I driving towards?"
The mother of two explained that she didn't didn't consciously realize it at the time, but she'd begun to dislike the attention that came along with being an actor.
"I started to feel, and, you know, frankly, I think part of my, part of the shine of acting wore off after facing, you know, being in such intense public scrutiny, being a kid who's, like, living every breakup on every headline, like being criticized for everything you do, say and wear," she told the show's host, Bruce Bozzi.
After acting for a while, Paltrow also realized that she wasn't a huge fan of the "transitory" nature of her industry.
"It's hard to plant roots. Like I'm such a homebody, you know, me, I like to be with my old friends and cook and squeeze my kids. Like I don't want to be alone in a hotel room in Budapest for six weeks. Like, it's just not who I am," she said.
Of course, the actor acknowledged that it also didn't help that she had a "rough boss" during her movie career at Miramax.
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During her chat with Bozzi, which airs on Friday, December 11 at 1:00 pm ET on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy, Paltrow also opened up about her role in the 1993 film "Flesh and Bone" and revealed that she was totally starstruck by Meg Ryan at the time.
“I mean, Meg Ryan was in this movie, so this is, like, post ‘When Harry Met Sally.’ I was so starstruck around her. Like I could not, I felt like I couldn't even be myself. I was so nervous around her and she had just had a baby. She was so nice,” she said.
The 48-year-old, who launched her own lifestyle brand, Goop, in 2008, also took some time to reflect on the lessons she's learned as a business owner during the pandemic.
"You know, this year has really been a humdinger, for us business owners. So, you know, I think the plans that we had, a lot of them had been scrapped. A lot of them have been put on hold and then other things have happened more quickly and have been amplified," she explained.
As she looks ahead to the future of the brand, Paltrow plans to home in on what makes Goop stand out from other businesses.
"Why do we uniquely exist in the world? Why do people, why do the people that love us come to us and what are the products, both digital, physical that we can bring to the world? So that Goop can keep being such a great resource for people on so many levels," she said.