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| This photo belongs to Time Inc. |
Her parents, Bruce Paltrow and Blythe Danner are really down to earth, successful people. In every interview I've read or seen with either one of these fine people they prove to be smart, funny, and very levelheaded. Blythe Danner was described by one interviewer as the most gracious guest he has ever had. Bruce Paltrow passed away much too young, but he was a stable, loving kind husband and father, or so everyone in Hollywood says. These are two nice, normal successful players in the industry and yet they have remained together and sane. I have a hard time believing that they would raise an entitled, snobby daughter. Gwyneth's brother, Jake, is a producer as I just looked up and you never see him anywhere. People who have stable family lives like that tend to grow up to be stable and grounded individuals themselves, for the most part. They are all smiling, they are standing closely together, they seem to really love each other.
1. HER FRIENDS ARE COOL:
My friends and I have a saying that cool people hang out with other cool people (that wasn't really a saying but go with me here). Assholes hang with assholes. Gwyneth has a lot of different friends, remember when she was uber close with Winona Ryder? They "broke up" and never were friends again? Perhaps Gwyneth sniffed out in Winona what was soon to cause the public catastrophe of her career. Her choices in friendships are interesting, cliched and seemingly last for a very long time (except for Winona, poor Winona. The only memories we have of that friendship is a visual wasteland of bad, very bad, horrific, atrocious outfits ). If you take a close look at her good friends, one has the feeling of, well if they think she's cool, she must be cool.
Evidently these two are such good friends that she fixed up Taylor Swift with him (is that really being a good friend??) and I have reason to believe Jake is a very down to earth guy. He doesn't seem to have an air of pretense about him, he dated Reese Witherspoon for a long time, (another nice down to earth person), he's funny as anything , and he's got a fantastic sister who could not be more down to earth (girlfriend is all roots). Dude is pretty normal, right? Funny, nice, smart....most chicks would try and hang out near him if they met him randomly at a bar (or at a Golden Globe mixer). Okay, so maybe he doesn't really prove Gwynnie's friends are mad to the max, but he's a good start.
Mario is one of the more interesting pairings that might not make sense from the outside. First of all, he's not exactly a hunk like most of the men Gwyneth has rubbed noses with, but he is one hell of a chef. Have you ever tasted his food? Have you seen his show? Have you followed his recipes? The dude is pure genius in the kitchen, and he is also a really down to earth, simple guy. Have you heard that Gwynnie stopped that ridiculous macrobiotic baloney diet that she was on and eventually wound up eating her way through Spain with Mario? She calls him "Batalls"....clearly they are close. Come on, anyone who gets Gwyneth to eat, for a television show, all the while speaking a foreign tongue has got to be cool!
Stella McCartney:
Her parents are Linda and Paul. That should say enough. Her parents were known for being nice. Why wouldn't she be nice? Additionally, she is a hard worker, is married, has children, everyone likes her. Yet another bead on Gwyneth's friendship bracelet who seems to be pretty good people.
Of course who can forget about Madonna? I mean, first of all, choosing a picture to put with her name was a little outrageous. To be honest, Madonna is pretty awesome. She's eccentric, and self centered, she pretty much dominates all friendships, yet here she is still good friends with Gwyneth after all of these years. Madonna seems to be the type to make friends and work very hard to keep them...she seems incredibly loyal, but I don't think she would tolerate insufferable bitches. Well...Rosie, Sandra and some of her friends are a little much, however, Gwyneth will never be like that, therefore she's got to have something else going on for her, right?
Jay Z:
Come on now. Is there anyone who seems cooler than Jay-Z? Hova? ROC??? Jay-Z is too cool for me to find some wonderful euphemism to illustrate how cool he is. He's that cool. He's clearly also sweet, a good person, has a good head on his shoulders and sticks with a strong sense of integrity and responsibility to the world. He is married, has a nice wife, treats her well (apparently) and manages his success in a smart, healthy way. Add in that his lyrics are incredibly thoughtful and profound, he always has the illst beats...the man is a class act all around. I have a lot of respect for Jay-Z. I really do. If he deems Gwyneth cool enough to be tight with, she's gotta have cred. Right? She's just GOT TO.
SHE'S BRAVISH: Even I have to say, she does interesting choices. She was a guest editor at Marie Claire and stayed alone on a deserted island for 3 days with only a boat somewhere in the yonder and a walkie talkie in case, "anything went wrong". I think that's pretty cool, being alone like that, without anything, True it was only 3 days, but still. I don't think that someone who didn't have a little bit of grit to their character would be able to survive that, easy as it might sound. She traveled around Spain with Mario Batali for PBS, I love that! There she proceeded to stuff her face with some of the best Spanish food with a top notch chef. I think that's a bold move, and also shows her being filmed as just herself. I find her very endearing and when she speaks fluent Spanish it is doubly so. Again, not very many actresses allow insight like that into their true persona. Lastly, she had moxie to sing! Now, I don't know about you, but the idea of not being a "Singer" yet being married to a "Singer" and getting out on stage in front a gazillion people, country people none the less, and playing guitar while singing with Vince Neil would terrify me. She did it, and she did it well (ish).
SHE'S FUNNY: I saw an interview with her once, describing her husband rapping a tune to her when she was pregnant. She then performed the rap, including the part about "your boobs now are Double D's and when you look down you can't see your knees". I can't find that interview, but I remember thinking she was pretty funny to share that. She isn't afraid to poke fun at herself, or be silly with other people.
So, dear friends, give Gwyneth a chance. De-Goop your impressions of her and find the capacity to see her like our dear friend Matthew Morrison sees her....as just a normal person.
