Gwyneth Paltrow Pens An Essay About Celebrating Her 50th Birthday And What She’d Advise Her Younger Self
Gwyneth Paltrow is one of Hollywood’s sweethearts. With her 50th year this September 27, she opened up about celebrating her aging body, being accountable for her mistakes, and learning to create boundaries.
The Goop Founder composed a candid essay, touching base with her past and her hopes for the future. This letter was published on her website this Thursday. The composition also included Gwyneth’s mistakes and regrets, which she admits still keep her up at night, but with a hopeful heart that she has learned from all these blunders.
Gwyneth wrote about the people she hurt in the past, and even if she did it unintentionally, the damage was done, and the reality was that she had let people down by not being the person they needed her to be. She further shared that she, too, had betrayed herself to keep the peace.
A snippet from her essay includes, “I have crossed lines, the thoughts of which sometimes rip me from sleep and suspend me into the hollowness of shame for a long, dark night. Most regretfully, and so often, I have not spoken my truth to spare some perceived consequence that hurting someone will tear us both apart.”
Gwyneth acknowledged that back then, she had issues standing up for herself and had zero boundaries in terms of her personal life and Hollywood career because she didn’t want to upset the people around her.
At an early age, Gwyneth starred in movies and even won an Academy Award. Her celebrity relationships further placed her in the spotlight when she dated Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt—even getting engaged to Brad for several months.
These missteps, the actress admitted, all stemmed from her not being confident to stand up for her truth and speak about it. She was too afraid of how other people would react to it, so she decided to keep quiet.
The Shakespeare in Love actress was honest in sharing that, even now, she’s not sure if she is willing to go back in time and correct her mistakes because even as mistakes, they provided her meaningful lessons in life.
She further wrote in her essay, “If nothing else, they have led me to a path of questioning. Of seeking a better version of myself. People often ask, ‘If you could go back to your 21-year-old self and give her some advice….’ I would know my boundary and hold on to it more tightly than my life itself.”
True to her words, the mother of two provides similar guidance to her children with ex-husband Chris Martin. She encourages Moses, 16, and Apple, 18, to be confident and to trust their instincts. She also advises them to make decisions based on how they feel and not on what people around them would say.
Gwyneth’s life lessons and realizations are speculated to have stemmed from her experience with disgraced movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein, who produced some of her films, including Shakespeare in Love.
Hopefully, birthday girl and businesswoman Gwyneth gets what she wants for her birthday—to slow down, retreat, be able to cook more dinners, and have a stronger relationship with Brad Falchuk, her husband.
