Gwyneth Paltrow has opened up about internet trolls and compared the nasty internet criticism to a “bloody” war.
While making a surprise appearance at the Code Conference in California on Tuesday, the 41-year-old actress discussed how the internet brought a new age of connection.
“The internet is an amazing opportunity, socially,” she said. “We have this opportunity to mature and learn, which is the essence of being on earth – to being the closest person we can be to our actual, real, truest self.”
However, the Goop lifestyle website founder is so hurt by the troll’s “hatred”and “jealousy” toward her she compared the experience to surviving a war.
“You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it’s a very dehumanizing thing. It’s almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanising thing, and then something is defined out of it,” she said.
“It’s culturally acceptable to be an anonymous commenter. It’s culturally acceptable to say, ‘I’m just going to take all of my internal pain and externalize it anonymously.'”
The mother-of-two seems to have a devise celebrity persona that often makes her easy target practice for vicious trolls, even more so since announcing her “conscious uncoupling” from husband and Coldplay front man, Chris Martin on her website.
“They have an internal object, and they’re putting it on me. I kind of look at it as, ‘Wow this is an interesting social experiment.’ You’re talking about a blind stranger having feelings about you. It can only be projection.”
In November, Paltrow’s mother, Blythe Danner, spoke out about the unfair way her daughter is teased by “bored” internet bullies.
“I feel she’s just extraordinarily accomplished in every area and people don’t like that, some people don’t like that, people who are bored and sit on their asses all day and just tap away,” she told Naughty But Nice Rob. “I mean I don’t read any of it, I just find it so disgusting. There is a coarsening of our culture today that is just so tragic.”
This week at a conference 41-year-old Gwyneth Paltrow discussed how the internet brought a new age of connection and challenges.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin attend the 3rd annual Sean Penn & Friends Help Hatiti Home Gala in January before the pair announced their “conscious uncoupling”.
Gwyn with Diane Keaton, Matthew McConaughey and Andie MacDowell attend the Goldene Kamera in Germany in February, 2014.
Gwyneth counts Drew Barrymore as a close pal.
The actress has forged a tight friendship with Beyonce.
In an unlikely move, loud-mouthed talk show host Chelsea Handler has worked her way into Gwyn’s inner circle.
Cameron Diaz parties with Gwyn at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2011.
Paltrow and British TV host Amanda De Cadenet enjoyed some wild days together in their youth.
The star and her celebrity trainer, Tracy Anderson.
The mother-of-two with her children, Apple and Moses.
The actress has been a muse for many designers over the years. Here she is with fashion designer and friend Diane Von Furstenberg.
Before she made a name for herself Gywneth grew up the child of Hollywood parents mixing in famous circles from a young age. Here she is with Goldie Hawn and Julia Roberts at an event in January, 2014.
Gwyneth’s role on Glee has seen her connect with a whole new generation. Her she is with young actress Elle Fanning.
