Gwyneth Paltrow has spent the past few years juggling motherhood – she has two children Apple, 5, and Moses, 3, with her husband of six years, Coldplay singer Chris Martin – and her career. Gwyneth is steadily re-establishing herself as one of Hollywood’s top actresses.
In recent years, the 37-year-old has had a leading role in The Good Night — her brother Jack Paltrow’s movie-directing debut — and continues with a stint as a superhero’s girlfriend in Iron Man. Gwyneth has also filmed the romantic drama Two Lovers in New York, which allowed her to make it home at night to read her children their bedtime story.
The Oscar-winning star of Shakespeare In Love tells why she’s in love with acting again, and how she juggles motherhood and movies.
What kind of movies do you watch yourself? Do you go to the movies often?
Yes, I like to go to the cinema. Sometimes we go a lot, and sometimes not. I like to see smaller, more art films.
You’ve lived in London for several years. What do you like about it?
I feel really lucky, because we get to go back and forth. We live in London and we live in New York. I don’t feel like I have to give either city up. They are both such amazing cities, different in a lot of ways, but also similar in a lot of ways. Culturally there is so much going on.
Do you like making movies in England?
Yes, I do. I’ve been making movies there since I was 22. I’ve done something like 10 projects. They approach it in a very artful way. Everybody is very important. It’s always a very good feeling on set in England. The movies I have done there have been art-house movies. I have never done a big-budget movie. So I don’t know if there’s a big difference to America.
Do you want to raise your children differently from the way you were raised?
No. My parents raised me with a lot of love and support. I want to do the same.
Do you sometimes use parental authority with your children?
Yes, of course. Children need boundaries, they don’t feel safe. If the child feels it’s in control, it acts out. Because on a very deep level, it knows it depends on the parent and can’t make its own decisions, or it can’t survive if it makes its own decisions. As a parent, you can still respect the essence of your child. You respect who they are, but they need boundaries.
Are there certain things you can’t do anymore because of your children?
Nothing I can think of. I have never been a skydiver. It’s not like I had to stop. I don’t think about what I can’t do. I think about what I can do.
How was it being raised both Jewish and Christian?
It’s funny because my parents married in 1969. And it was very contentious. Because my mother was from this very waspy family in Philadelphia, and my father [movie director Bruce Paltrow, who died in 2002] was from New York. And he came from this dynasty of rabbis in Poland. Their wedding was very uncomfortable to both sides. The Jews didn’t want him to marry a Christian, and the Christians didn’t want her to marry a Jew. We grew up with both. It was a really nice way to grow up. It was really funny. You would go to Easter to my grandmother’s house and everybody is sitting at the table, going, “What do you think of what the president said?” Then you go over to Passover, and everybody is like, “What are you saying?” And everybody is yelling and eating food from each other’s plates, and very alive. It was such a nice way to grow up. We had more holidays. And there are two different lifestyles and cultures.
What effect does being half-Jewish have on how you’re raising your children? Do they get a religious upbringing?
I don’t believe in religion. I believe in spirituality. Religion is the cause of all the problems in the world. I don’t believe in organised religion at all. It’s what separates people. One religion just represents fragments, it causes war. More people have died because of religious conflict than any other reason.
What would be your solution for this?
Everybody needs to change their consciousness and realise we are all one and let go of the ego that’s involved. That’s the only way to solve it.
