Paltrow has long been polarizing: I find that people either really admire her — consider her a role model, even — or despise her. I have advocated for the latter position pretty religiously. Just a couple weeks ago, I wrote a post about my intense dislike of the Hollywood icon, picking her apart for something that now seems pretty trivial (the fact that she can’t say anything without plugging a brand).
I’m not saying that Paltrow’s not a weird lizard person, but I do think we should probably all cut the vitriol. Our fierce antagonism for her on one hand, excessive admiration on the other says more about our own problems — our need to build up idols just to tear them down — than about the actress and her supposed flaws.
It’s not surprising, too, that it’s the world’s most beautiful woman who’s also the most hated. It’s stupidly easy to hate women, even women do it. Blame societal misogyny. Chris Brown beat up Rihanna, one of America’s most celebrated pop stars; horrifying photographs of the damage he did to her were all over the Internet, but still he came in only at number 20 on Star‘s list. In part, we can attribute that to Paltrow’s greater fame, but only in part. What has she done wrong? Like really wrong? Nothing. She’s just a very successful, very attractive woman who cares about her kids, likes to cook and has a good perspective on her marriage. Yes, she is absurdly rich and completely out of touch with most of our realities, but okay: let’s just not look to her for guidance, simple. I’m taking a vow of Gwyneth non-hatred. You should too.
Image via Getty
Related: Gwyneth Paltrow Comes Out as a Smoker (Sort Of) in Harper’s Bazaar
