“I’ve had it”: the movie that sent Gwyneth Paltrow into Hollywood exile
Hollywood might have come a long way when it comes to gender equality, but in many ways, it’s still one of the most backwards industries across all arts and culture. Gwyneth Paltrow perhaps knows this better than anybody.
Paltrow has always been forthcoming about her views on feminism, even in conversations when she never actually uses the word – for instance, in 2014, she discussed how she sees the current generation of women who want to be ambitious and for it not to be seen as a dirty word, as well as adopting qualities that might seem contradictory to broader society.
“We want to be feminine and soft, we want to be maternal, we want to be sexual, we want to be explorers, and we can be a combination of all of these archetypes,” she said. “You can be powerful, but you can also be vulnerable.”
More recently, following her controversial Goop vagina-scented candle, she responded by calling it a “feminist move”, explaining that the product was a response to all those who had ever made women feel ugly about their own bodies. On social media at the time, she said it was intended to be “a very strong punk-rock kind of fuck you to anyone who ever made us feel like that”.
Elsewhere, she has also called attention to the power of having a diverse female network, with comments some people found confusing in the broader context of her political positioning. During a conference in LA a couple of years back, she said that having Republican friends made her husband feel uneasy, but that it was important to foster a community of inclusivity.
Regardless, Paltrow’s stance on the subject comes from a variety of threads, most notably her experiences across her acting career, but also from her other ventures as both a cultural icon and businesswoman. For a long while, Paltrow noticed one glaring issue with the industry at large: that women were prevented from positions of power, whether that included roles as bosses or the bigger parts in major movies.
“They always say when you’re first through the thicket, you get all the scratches,” Paltrow once said, claiming that Demi Moore was one actor who truly shattered the glass ceiling. Learning these different curves doesn’t just come from observation; it also comes from how she figured out her own limits, even if sometimes it seems obvious.
Recalling her experience during 2005’s John Madden drama Proof, Paltrow told Harper’s Bazaar that while she was pregnant with her daughter, Apple, at the time, she realised she was pushing herself too much. “I was like, ‘I’ve had it. I can’t do this anymore,’” she said. “I had morning sickness, and I was dying, and I had these five-page monologues. So when I had her, I knew I was going to take a big chunk of time off. And I’ve never starred in anything again.”
True to her word, Paltrow’s mindset changed after Proof, not just with both major and minor roles but with learning how to stop whenever she knows she’s reaching burnout. It might be a difficult path to take – one centred on complete self-preservation – but it’s one that ensures her sustenance across all aspects of her life.
