It's easy to see why people hate Gwyneth Paltrow: She's beautiful, tall, lithe and privileged.There's also that matter of her apparent classism, which, having met her, seems completely unwarranted. So herewith, three reasons to love Gwyneth Paltrow, from someone who knows her well. (Fine, I met her at roundtable once, where she was bound to be on her best behavior because she was in a room full of press, but even so. She was gracious.)
1. She has a smart, dry sense of humor. Which I think is part of her image problem. When you meet her in person—free of TV or print interview snippets that aren't always presented in context—you can see where this sense of humor could create a problem. The recent hoopla over Gwyneth referring to Billy Joel as "William" is a perfect example of her humor gone awry.
2. She likes to share. The very idea behind GOOP is sharing. She says she launched the site "because I felt like I had a lot of really useful information that I was privileged enough to get, because I have this amazing super, fortunate life," which, fine, comes across as a bit pretentious at first glance, but isn't it also categorically true? And if you make the claim that you don't care how celebrities live their lives, then—hi, I'm sorry, why are you reading this? All Gwyneth is doing is giving in to your deep need to know everything about her.
3. She admits it takes work to look as good as she does. She's shared with us (see above) her detox plan and admitted that she spends two hours at the gym each day, which is way better for my fragile, womanly psyche than hearing Blake Lively talk about how she eats a pork burrito before a shooting scantily clad scene. It's nice to know that if I had two hours free everyday, I too, could look like Gwyneth.
So if you take anything away from this post, hopefully it's that Gwyneth Paltrow is a funny, giving and truthful person. And what's so hateful about that?
Eh, I still don't like her. If you'd like to write about something just email me and you might be the next Summer Friday blogger!