14 DAY TRIAL // In recent years, Gwyneth Paltrow has been getting a lot of negative media attention, mostly because she’s been working overtime to put herself on a pedestal, to put out an image of herself that’s superior to everyone else’s.
Criticism really picked up last year, with an interview in which she claimed she, as an actress, had it harder than 9-to-5 mothers because they at least had a routine. She, on the other hand, had to go and shoot on location in Wisconsin for 2 full weeks. Imagine that.
What with the things she wrote and the products she sold through her Goop website, and some other comments she made in interviews, Gwyneth slowly became one of the most hated actresses of her generation.
That’s just jealousy talking, her mother Blythe Danner believes.
Blythe says Gwyneth is too accomplished not to be hated
After a career spanning 50 years, Blythe is finally getting to call herself a leading lady, in the Sundance hit “I’ll See You in My Dreams.” Promoting the film on The Today Show, the actress also spoke to Natalie Morales about the criticism her daughter attracts.
To paraphrase, Blythe is lucky she’s old because she can’t keep up with the things said or written about Gwyneth online. However, some of it has reached her ears, and she wants the world to know how things stand.
First of all, Gwyneth is an amazing woman. Secondly, if people say bad things about her online, it’s either because they’re stirring up trouble to get clicks or because they’re intimidated by her.
“I think she's so accomplished that people get kind of intimidated by it,” the 72-year-old actress explains. “Great cook, great mom, great actress. I know that she's the most extraordinary girl who can do everything. Incredible mother! She's raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for my husband's oral cancer foundation - things she doesn't talk about a lot.”
Obviously, no one expected Blythe, or any mother for that matter, to go on camera and say anything but the nicest things about their offspring.
The Gwyneth paradox
The biggest problem with Gwyneth, though, is that she tries to come across as very relatable, because it’s in the interest of her Goop business. At the same time, while in the process of trying to appear relatable, she gives herself away as an elitist, just another celebrity living in her own bubble of luxury.
Take for instance the products she sells through her website, which claim to bring fashion back to basics and to be affordable, while costing a month’s rent in a major city. Or the “simple” recipes she comes up with, made with super-expensive and occasionally very rare ingredients.
Or the fact that, just recently, she pledged to do the food stamp challenge for one week and was busted by the paparazzi out to dinner at an exclusive restaurant after just 3 days.
People don’t hate Gwyneth Paltrow because they’re intimidated by or jealous of her. They passionately and actively dislike her because she’s constantly trying to fool them into thinking she’s something she’s not.