From her romances with Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt to her fallout with Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow’s life is the subject of the upcoming book “Gwyneth: The Biography.”
Written and “rigorously reported” by Amy Odell, the bestselling author of a 2022 biography on Anna Wintour, the book centers around Paltrow’s childhood, dating history and career in Hollywood.
“Gwyneth was born to parents viewed as Hollywood royalty, and that immense privilege turned her into a target of backlash when, at just 26, she won an Oscar,” reads a description of the biography. “Rather than cave in to criticism, she leveraged the attention for valuable endorsement deals and film roles, eventually founding her controversial wellness and lifestyle company, Goop.”
Here’s a roundup of the book’s biggest bombshells about the actress who some love and some just love to hate.
How Gwyneth and Brad Pitt started dating
The biography offers an in-depth look into Paltrow’s roughly three-year relationship with Brad Pitt, whom she started dating in 1994 and was briefly engaged to.
According to the book, the future Goop founder met Pitt at an audition for the film “Legends of the Fall,” where Pitt ultimately got the role but Paltrow did not.
Pitt later suggested Paltrow play his wife in 1995 thriller “Se7en.” Around the same time, Paltrow also got an offer to play opposite Keanu Reeves in “Feeling Minnesota.” After asking for advice on which opportunity she should choose, a friend responded, “Well, who do you want to date: Brad Pitt or Keanu Reeves?”
Paltrow chose “Se7en” and sure enough, she and Pitt developed a romance and began dating. The two would be seen “around the set holding hands” and smoking “cigarettes together outside their trailers,” Odell writes.
The real reason why Gwyneth and Brad’s romance ended
The Hollywood “It” couple got engaged in late 1996 before ending their relationship just a few months later.
According to Odell, Paltrow began expressing doubts about whether or not Pitt was right for her because of their different upbringings — she the daughter of director Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner, and Pitt coming from more humble beginnings in Oklahoma and Missouri.
“When we go to restaurants and order caviar, I have to say to Brad, ‘This is beluga and this is osetra,’” Paltrow allegedly once said.
Odell writes that Pitt wanted to be with Paltrow, but “seemed to feel threatened by her success and all the attention she received.”
On an episode of “Call Her Daddy” last year, Paltrow admitted she was “heartbroken” when the two ultimately called off their engagement.
Gwyneth and Ben Affleck’s relationship woes
Paltrow met Ben Affleck at a dinner event shortly after her breakup with Pitt in 1997. The two quickly began seeing each other, but it wasn’t long before there was trouble in paradise.
As Odell writes, “Affleck was struggling with alcoholism and a gambling habit around the time he met Gwyneth. Her friends had reservations about him because he didn’t always reciprocate her affection. He at times seemed more interested in playing video games with the guys at his house than being with Gwyneth.”
After dating on and off for three years, the couple called it quits because “their physical chemistry couldn’t overcome his self-destructive impulses.”
Why Gwyneth ended her friendship with Madonna
Paltrow reportedly pulled the plug on her longtime friendship with Madonna after she “reached a breaking point” when Madonna “showed up” to an island where Paltrow and her then-husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, were vacationing.
“Madonna seemed to know that Gwyneth would be there, which Gwyneth seemed to find strange,” Odell writes. “Madonna then insisted Gwyneth and Martin join her for a big group dinner at a long table where Madonna went off on her daughter, Lourdes. Gwyneth and Martin were disgusted by the behavior.”
According to the biography, Martin called out the “awful” behavior and said he couldn’t “be around this woman anymore.” Paltrow agreed and cut ties with the “Like a Virgin” singer.
The truth behind the rumors of Gwyneth’s feud with Winona Ryder
The upcoming book also addresses the longtime rumors that Paltrow stole her Oscar-winning role in 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love” from friend Winona Ryder.
Winona Ryder and Gwyneth Paltrow
Kevin Mazur/WireImage Back in the 90s, Gwyneth Paltrow and Winona Ryder
The biography suggests that Ryder never received an offer but “wanted to do the part,” claiming Paltrow actually recommended her friend for the film.
“After a story about Gwyneth allegedly stealing the script from Winona’s coffee table reached the media, Gwyneth told friends that Ryder had started the rumor, and insisted she’d received the script through her agent,” Odell writes.
In an interview on the “Howard Stern Show” in 2015, Paltrow insisted the narrative was nothing more than an “urban myth.”
“I swear to God I did not [steal the role], I’m raising my right hand on the Bible,” she said.
“Gwyneth: The Biography” is set to be released on July 29.
