Gwyneth Paltrow gets the Anna Wintour treatment

Gwyneth Paltrow is on the cover of the new issue of PEOPLE this week because the magazine has an exclusive excerpt of Amy Odell’s biography of her releasing on July 29. Amy’s previous book was Anna: The Biography, which came out in 2022 and this is worth noting for several reasons: the author and title, obviously, but also the access. 

Anna was written with extensive reporting, 250 interviews that included a list of Wintour’s friends and associates that was provided by Anna herself. So even though Anna is not an officially endorsed biography, and she declined to be interviewed personally, the fact that she knew Amy was working on it, and helped with it, makes it pretty legit. 

So where Gwyneth: The Biography is concerned, Amy took the same approach – “rigorously reported”, 220 interviews, we don’t yet know exactly how involved (or not) Gwyneth was… but given Amy’s work on the Wintour book, I think it’s fair to assume that this book might have proceeded behind the scenes the same way and that the gossip we’re getting is good. On so many levels. Good for accuracy but also good for juice. Some of these excerpts are a f-cking scream. 

Credit to PEOPLE’s editors here – the magazine has been inconsistent the last few years with its content (some of it is so weird and trashy and alarmist) – because they knew what they were doing with the parts of the book they pulled out to highlight and the focus on Gwyneth’s high-profile romances. Gwyneth and Brad Pitt were one of the biggest It Couples of the 90s, and we’re getting more insight into what worked and what didn’t. 

It's well known by now that they fell for each other hard and fast and that Gwyneth was the one who wanted out of their engagement. What’s less talked about is how uncomfortable Brad became with her fame. 

“After Emma came out, Gwyneth went over to [her friend, makeup artist Kevyn] Aucoin’s place and cried about Pitt multiple times. He wanted to be with her but seemed to feel threatened by her success and all the attention she received. [Aucoin’s] advice to Gwyneth was frank, “You really need to end this.”

Gwyneth was slowly coming to the realisation that she and Brad just weren’t right for each other. Hilariously, while Brad is all about the finer things now, fancy AF with all his art and architecture, when he was with Gwyneth he lacked, um, sophistication. Or maybe it’s that everyone lacks sophistication compared to her, LOL.  

“During Emma’s filming, Gwyneth expressed doubts to one crew member that Pitt was right for her, and admitted that she had a crush on Hugh Grant. “Brad and I had very different upbringings,” she told an interviewer. “So when we go to restaurants and order caviar, I have to say to Brad, ‘This is beluga and this is osetra.’” 

Beluga and osetra, hahahaha, she has always been this asshole. It gets funnier when you consider the possibility that since then, 25 years later, knowing the difference between beluga and osetra is what Brad Pitt has been chasing. In other words, that’s how Gwyneth imprinted on him. 

After Brad there was Ben Affleck. Gwyneth was attracted to Ben’s brain and bone, despite all his issues – which obviously persisted beyond their relationship and throughout his subsequent ones. It sounds like Ben might have dickmatised her?! 

“Affleck was struggling with alcoholism and a gambling habit around the time he met Gwyneth, who was attracted to his intellect. 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. She spoke openly about how much she enjoyed their sex life. She told Aucoin one day that she loved when Affleck [engaged in a certain sex act].”

Ben Affleck is skilled at eating pussy, thanks Gwyneth, good to know. This is exactly what I signed up for, but also friend drama in addition to romantic drama: the Winona Ryder tussle over Shakespeare in Love comes up. Gossip legend has it that Winona had the script and Gwyneth stole it from her coffee table. The new version of the story is that Winona was never sent the script but she wanted to be in the movie and Gwyneth recommended her for the role but then somehow, “Gwyneth told friends that Ryder had started the rumor, and insisted she’d received the script through her agent”. 

Which still sounds sus! If she recommended her friend, and then still ended up getting the script and taking the part, wouldn’t the friend (Winona) naturally feel like there were shenanigans? 

Gwyneth and Winona’s breakup over Shakespeare in Love, though, is familiar gossip. Less familiar is why Gwyneth and Madonna broke up. There’s been speculation over Tracy Anderson’s involvement, all kinds of theories ranging from fashion to friends. But never this. It happened after Gwyneth and Chris Martin had their second child. And it sounds like it was a parenting issue?

“Their relationship reached a breaking point when Madonna showed up to an island where Gwyneth and Martin were vacationing. Madonna seemed to know that Gwyneth would be there, which Gwyneth seemed to find strange, a friend remembered.

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. “I can’t be around this woman anymore,” Martin told Gwyneth. “She’s awful.” Gwyneth agreed that Madonna was toxic and ended the friendship.”

How is Madonna going to react to Gwyneth possibly being associated with a book that includes a story about Gwyneth and Chris judging her as a mother?! 

Read more excerpts from Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy Odell, coming out on July 29, at PEOPLE. And join us at The Squawk to unpack these excerpts! (App link here)