How Gwyneth Paltrow Became So Hated In Hollywood

Why does everyone seem to hate Gwyneth Paltrow? While there is no definitive starting point for the public's general dislike of actress, some have suggested her 1999 Oscar acceptance speech could have been where it all began. Somehow, her sobbing sincerity evoked the complete opposite response of what one would expect to receive when bearing their true emotions in a heartfelt moment. Since then, Paltrow's earnestness has been consistently turned against her as a sign of snobbery, although she hasn't exactly worked to reverse this perception. From her incessant name-dropping to her endless advocacy for haute living, it's if she becomes more nauseating with each eye roll she induces. Here's how Paltrow became so hated in Hollywood.

Just as her film career was beginning to take off, Paltrow started dating Brad Pitt. It was 1994 and Pitt's career had already exploded with starring roles in Interview with the Vampire (1994) and Legends of the Fall (1994). The two met on the set of Se7en (1995), and would eventually get engaged, but the romance didn't last. In an interview with Diane Sawyer, Paltrow explained, "My kind of internal stuff really tripped up that whole relationship. And I felt really responsible, and also like I was the architect of my own misery...I just made a big mess out of it." That's a concept that most women, who at that time would have given up limbs for a chance at canoodling Pitt, were never going to understand.

Then she moved on to "It" guy Ben Affleck, who was fresh off his Oscar win for Good Will Hunting (1997). She not only threw him under the bus while they were dating, saying his perfect woman would be "any sort of stripper at Scores," but also dissed him later, telling Diane Sawyer, "I just think we have a very different sort of value system." Both of those statements could be perceived as Paltrow considering herself to be better than Affleck.

Paltrow also dated actors Scott Speedman and Luke Wilson before eventually marrying Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, which was a relationship Paltrow admitted had such a bland perception that if it was a snack, it would be rice cakes with a side of lettuce.

One of the internet's favorite things to do is compile lists (Guilty!), and over the years there have been many focused on ridiculous things Paltrow has said in interviews. Apparently, when a journalist clicks play on a recorder, Paltrow automatically shifts into some kind of hyper-snob mode. One of the most comprehensive of these lists is Thought Catalog's "45 Hilariously Ridiculous Gwyneth Paltrow Quotes That Will Make You Want To Punch Something," which includes gems like "Beauty fades! I just turned 29, so I probably don't have that many good years left in me," from her 2001 interview with NY Rock (via ABC News), and "I'd rather smoke crack than eat cheese from a tin," from a 2012 Jonathan Ross interview.

Perhaps the best quote to sum up Paltrow's unabashed pretentiousness is this snippet from a 2009 Elle UK interview (via the New York Post). When addressing her "haters," Paltrow said, "I am who I am. I can't pretend to be somebody who makes $25,000 a year," which is not only astoundingly condescending but also a terrible way to change the minds of people who already think you're a snob. It's like oil company BP calling themselves environmentalists for cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico. A little self-awareness goes a long way, and Paltrow seems to simply have none.

Off all of the infamous Gwyneth Paltrow name drops, her constant references to Beyoncé and Jay Z are probably the most infuriating. Buzzfeed took the time to pull together a comprehensive history of Bey and G's friendship, which allegedly started in 2006 when they got drunk together backstage at a Jay Z concert. From there, it's been a whirlwind of sitting together at award shows, celebrating birthdays on yachts, and complimenting each other in public to the point where they've both repeatedly called one another perfect. And it's not just Paltrow and Beyoncé who've become BFFs. Gwyneth told The Sun that their marriages also mirror one another. "They balance each other out. Chris and I are like Jay and Beyoncé: two paranoid ironists and two calm, grounded people," she said, whatever that means.

There have been times when being friends with Paltrow has likely been uncomfortable for the musical power couple. For example, in 2012, she apparently felt that her friendship with Jay and Bey had almost given her an "n-word pass," emboldening her to tweet, "Ni**as in paris for real @mrteriusnash (the dream) tyty, beehigh." Paltrow was referencing the Jay Z and Kanye West song of the same name, but nobody was having that, least of all, the internet. Not to mention, the African American gentlemen in her Twitter post weren't Kanye West or Jay Z. Whoops. The backlash was fierce, and though Paltrow tried defending herself a few days later, the damage was done. They're all still friends, but if we had to guess, Paltrow probably just hums along or quietly dances to her friends' music now instead of singing. If not, she should definitely consider it.

In 2008, Paltrow started Goop, her newsletter full of unsolicited life advice that would be difficult to put into practice for anyone who isn't Oprah. It has since grown into a full blown "lifestyle site," which describes itself as "a place where readers can find suggestions about where to shop, eat, and stay from a trusted friend—not from an anonymous, crowd-sourced recommendation engine." And what are some of those suggestions, you ask? Well, if you're in the mood for a "quick getaway," Goop suggests checking out Blantyre, a Scottish castle replica nestled in The Berkshires in Massachusetts, which lists rates during the "festive season" as high as $2000 per night for a stay in the "Ice House." Or perhaps you're in the market for back-to-school clothes for your child. Forget Walmart, because Goop has you covered with this $355 Bonpoint cashmere sweater paired with tights and $130 sneakers.

All of that is mild compared to the annual Goop Holiday Gift Guide. Each year when it debuts, the internet logs on with the feverish excitement of children running to the tree on Christmas morning as dreams of hate-reading dance in their heads. And they have good reason. Recommended items from 2016's guide include a $120 toothpaste and a $8,300 portable yurt. The guide reads more like the inventory of a Saudi Prince's storage unit than anything any reasonable person would be able to afford. Seriously, if someone bought you a $500 umbrella instead of just giving you that cash, we feel you would be justified in a court of law when you beat them senseless with it.

As we just mentioned, Paltrow's GOOP newsletter, which has since grown into a full-blown lifestyle site, is known for it's outrageous product recommendations. But the controversy isn't always just about the pricetag. For example, GOOP came under fire after promoting jade eggs that get inserted into the vagina for the purported benefits of everything from improved sex to the creation of "kidney strength." Except real medical doctors, like gynecologist Jen Gunter, tore those claims to pieces, even going so far as to write, "I read the post on GOOP and all I can tell you is it is the biggest load of garbage I have read on your site since vaginal steaming."

So, it shouldn't be a huge surprise that when GOOP began promoting Body Vibes stickers, which according to Gizmodo, claimed to use "NASA space suit material" to "rebalance the energy frequency in our bodies," it turned out to be just like the jade eggs. Two different NASA representatives told Gizmodo there was absolutely zero merit to the claim, one bluntly categorizing it at "a load of BS."

To their credit, Body Vibes pulled the NASA-related claim, saying it was an error that happened when their "engineer was misinformed by a distributor about the material in question." GOOP also pulled the claim from their site, but included the following line in their backtracking statement: "Our content is meant to highlight unique products and offerings, find open-minded alternatives, and encourage conversation." In other words, as is the case with their founder, whether people love or hate GOOP, they're talking about GOOP, and at the end of the day, that's good for GOOP.

If you can point us to any woman who would enjoy being described as "common," we'll point you to someone who thought Shallow Hal (2001) was a great movie. It's never going to happen because neither of those people exist. When Paltrow said she was "incredibly close to the common woman" in an interview with CNN Money, the collective groan uttered in response was probably heard from space. Okay, that's a bit of a stretch and slightly unfair, since it was actually the interviewer, Cristina Alesci, who used the term "common woman" in her question, but just minutes after lumping herself in with the general populace, Paltrow describes herself as "an actor, and a mother, and entrepreneur," who is primarily focused on building her lifestyle brand, but who would also consider an acting project.

So, if we've got this straight, in Paltrow's mind, being the CEO of a lifestyle brand is like the low-paying office job that just barely covers the rent and will never come close to paying off the student loans, and the acting project is the personal life-killing evening and weekend bartending gig that might be enough to pay for a modest vacation? Yep, that was a spot-on comparison of life experience, and we're all just jerks for misinterpreting it.

Paltrow has attracted much attention for her seemingly pompous parenting choices, which she loves to casually mention as though they are standard operating procedure for any mom or dad. For example, in an interview with InStyle (via the Daily Mail), she mentioned how daughter Apple Blythe Alison was "cross" with her because she only lets her and brother Moses Bruce Anthony "watch TV in French or Spanish," adding "When I'm in France, I go to [Boulevard] Beaumarchais and buy all their cartoons." Well, naturally, we all do that. Duh.

Then there's the diet. When it comes to food, Paltrow is the absolute queen of obscure culinary references that probably leave even top chefs scratching their heads. She has championed the macrobiotic diet, recommended keeping a $20 bamboo matcha whisk in the kitchen for whipping up traditional Japanese matcha tea, and even put her kids on a "low-carb, gluten-free diet" that she admitted leaves them with "that specific hunger that comes with avoiding carbs." Yes, we believe there's another term for it called starvation. Give those kids a pancake, for goodness sake.

As if all of that wasn't enough, Paltrow has now entered the realm of publicly embarrassing her adolescent daughter by suggesting to InStyle that many of Apple's friends "have had precocious puberty" because of the "endocrine-disrupting hormones" in everything. For someone who is entirely preoccupied with her health, Paltrow seems to have overlooked her now almost certain fate of being attacked by her own daughter with a handcrafted Nepalese palm blade whittled from the legacy wood of a 1,000-year-old ficus.

When Paltrow and Martin announced their separation in 2014, they did it on Goop, which according to Paltrow, was then still "very small and very personal." Apparently, there were a lot more readers than she thought, because the since-deleted announcement actually crashed the website, according to People, and almost instantly became a viral sensation, and not in a good way.

Twitter users mercilessly lampooned their use of the phrase "conscious uncoupling" in countless ways, including comic Louis Virtel, who tweeted "Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are getting divorced, citing 'insufferable similarities.'" The Plain English Foundation declared it the "worst phrase of 2014." The term even caused a ruckus for the psychotherapist living in a remote spa and yoga retreat in Costa Rica who reportedly coined it, reported The New York Times. "The people who run this resort really bill it as a place where you can come and get away from it all," said the suddenly infamous author, "so they're giving me looks across the hallway like: 'What are you doing? You're bringing in all this energy from the world.'"

In hindsight, Paltrow has repeatedly said she regrets the unexpected impact of her divorce vocabulary. During a Howard Stern interview (via ABC News), she admitted she "made a mistake" by not giving it context. Yes, because any amount of explanation would have made people think that she simply didn't want to use the pedestrian term "divorce." Perhaps there's a French cartoon or Moroccan sonnet out there that can explain to Paltrow that her highfalutin parsing of words wasn't fooling anyone. In other words, we see you, boo.

If there's one thing we learned from the 2016 U.S. presidential election, it's that Americans want America to be great again, whatever that means. That ambiguous platitude has been interpreted in a variety of ways, from bringing back jobs to getting a handle on immigration, but one thing everyone can agree on is that nobody's having it when Paltrow goes abroad and starts talking smack.

The first time she apparently smeared the States was during an interview with Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias (via NBC New York), which claimed she said, "I love the English lifestyle, it's not as capitalistic as America. People don't talk about work and money, they talk about interesting things at dinner. I like living here because I don't fit into the bad side of American psychology. The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans." Paltrow later told People it was a misunderstanding due to an error in translation. We think it's probably because the Rosetta Stone Goop edition couldn't figure out how to say "artisanal flax porridge" in any other languages.

Even though she was already hated for her web presence, famous friendships, and questionable parenting choices, Paltrow apparently felt she had a little more obnoxiousness to spread around, so she boldly moved into the world of print. She chose to write about food, because if you're comfortable pissing off everyone in the entire world, the natural choice for subject matter is going to be a universally shared experience like eating. She did not disappoint.

In her cookbook, My Father's Daughter, which is a tribute to her late father, whom she describes as "a supreme gourmand," the actress explains how to not only prepare healthy and delicious food but also how to entertain while serving it. She writes, "You just need some good ingredients and a few simple recipes, maybe a couple of jokes, or a 'topic to dissect' at the table, the way they do it at Nora Ephron's house." See? Just think about all of those times you had dinner at Nora Ephron's place! Easy-peasy!

In her follow-up cookbook that touted "delicious weekday recipes," which she titled It's All Easy, Paltrow suggests that after picking the kids up from school, taking them to practice, and running any other errands that need to be squeezed in before heading home, the "super-busy home cook" should have no problem whipping up dishes such as her Balsamic-Macerated Berries with Cashew Cream that allegedly takes "upwards of two hours to prepare." There's also a hilarious pantry list, which suggests that normal, busy people keep Bonito flakes, Sambal oelek, and a Middle Eastern spice called Za'atar on hand at all times. We're certain those are all readily available at a local grocer and not the result of having an assistant visit several specialty stores and farmers' markets, because let's be honest, she totally has help.

First, Gwyneth Paltrow needs to get rid of Goop. Even though she's actively trying to distance herself from the brand, having declared at the 2016 Sage Summit (via Us Weekly), "In order to build the brand I want to build, its scalability is limited if I connect to it," and, "My dream is that one day no one will remember that I had anything to do with it." There is no possibility of that happening. Goop is and always will be synonymous with Paltrow's perceived snobbery. She needs to take the entire website offline, but first, print out every page of it and burn it in a giant bonfire in the middle of Times Square on New Year's Eve. That would be a healthy start.

Second, the actress needs to issue a string of apology videos shot in a different fast food restaurant every day for two weeks. In the clips, she should not only eat the food, but also makes zero references to snowboarding trips with Bono or paddling the Nile in Jay Z's kayak.

Third, and this is the most important one, Paltrow needs to admit that growing up with family in the entertainment business, among them her successful thespian mother Blythe Danner and godfather Steven Spielberg, automatically placed her into a rare existence that 99.9999 percent of humanity cannot relate to. This is not her fault. It's just the way things are, but from this lofty position, she needs to stop pretending her trendy, impractical diets, unaffordable luxury preferences, and elitist worldview are common. Paltrow is already the Mariah Carey of actresses, she just needs to embrace it.