Gwyneth Paltrow is on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter’s annual 100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment issue as this year’s recipient of the publication’s Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. GP was also at a morning event yesterday celebrating the women who’ve been recognised by the trade. And even though, of course, she called this out during her remarks (which we’ll get to later), it’s hard not to be cynical when she’s being honoured for her “leadership”, specifically the “professional and philanthropic contributions” that THR mentions in the cover story. 

 

And I say this as someone who really, really enjoyed Gwyneth when I started this website – this is an understatement, actually. I was obsessed with her. At the time, the snotty superiority with which she performed her celebrity was relatively harmless, with no real-world consequences…until there were. 

As Amy Odell lays out in her biography of Gwyneth released earlier this year, Gwyneth is indeed a leader in the wellness movement that has dramatically reduced public trust in medicine and scientific research, leading to a mega-boom in the lifestyle vertical (that has benefited her) that can only keep growing if women continue to feel unwell. Gwyneth, who is typically unflappable, sounded bothered by the points raised in Amy’s book. One of the reasons why, in my opinion, is that if Gwyneth has lost white middle class women like Amy, basically her target market, then her business plan is in jeopardy. Which may be why GP is pivoting now, slightly. 

 

Let’s start with the interview in The Hollywood Reporter. The pull-quotes that have made headlines this week are to do with how her kids, Apple and Moses, reacted to her making out with Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme. Focusing on this detail – which she’s already talked about so many times – misses the bigger point of the piece. What’s so much more interesting when you read the interview in full is how ingratiating Gwyneth is, especially about acting and Hollywood, her career, stepping away from being an actor and talking about rediscovering the joy in it. 

There’s also a whole paragraph where Gwyneth softens her comments about intimacy coordinators, having been criticised a few weeks ago with her dismissive attitude about their value on set. When was the last time we saw Gwyneth Paltrow backtracking?! Obviously it’s award season and Gwyneth isn’t a frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress, but she still definitely has a shot since there does seem to be some room in the race right now. Much of the THR interview, then, is Gwyneth appealing directly to her peers, as she openly admires Nicole Kidman and Leonardo DiCaprio during the conversation, while also reminding the industry that there was a time when she ran with the elites in the acting community. 

 

You may hate to admit it or you may be incapable of admitting it, but while Gwyneth might be an asshole, she is really, really good at acting. And she is coming to us now, in the fall of 2025, not as a vaginal caretaker but as an actress who is making a comeback, putting in facetime and giving speeches to an audience that once rewarded her on its biggest stage. This is Gwyneth Paltrow and she could never fully kiss ass, but it’s as close to ass-kissing as we’ve ever seen from someone who has never had to, not for a minute in her life – and doing it while being honoured for her “leadership”. Which in itself is the most Gwyneth Paltrow f-cking moment you could possibly conceive. 

Which is why I’m back to the cynicism and I’ll express it with a comparison. As Sarah just posted, Jennifer Lopez was also at the event yesterday to receive the Equity in Entertainment Award. JLo’s fame and success are undeniable. But it’s also undeniable that she’s been trying to please the tastemakers and decision makers and voters in Hollywood for 30 years, throughout her entire career, seeking approval and validation from the power players in the industry that continue to withhold it. Whether she should continue to chase that dragon is another conversation. The point is, JLo never stopped while Gwyneth has cherry-picked when she wants to be friendly and borderline obsequious, and when she decides it’s beneath her. And it’s easy.

 

Calling this a “comeback”, then, is absurd. Where the f-ck did she go? Only the most inside of insiders can at once love and criticise a home without being told to leave it. Only the most inside of insiders would be able to commemorate her so-called return to the throne with a welcome from a box office king, Robert Downey Jr himself, who is now powerful enough to not have to show up everywhere, and only when he chooses to for those he deems the most worthy. 

These two have been friends a long, long time. And here RDJ didn’t just get up early for Gwyneth to simply hand her a trophy, he put some energy into celebrating. The speech he gave yesterday was by all accounts the highlight of the event – he lovingly mocked her and somehow made it complimentary, he was funny, he was loud, and most importantly where she’s concerned, he made her look amazing. This is just the ending of his remarks but you can appreciate what a hit he was, in her service. 

@hollywoodreporter

#RobertDowneyJr get's emotional honoring #GwynethPaltrow at the #THR #WOMENinENTERTAINMENT gala.

♬ original sound - The Hollywood Reporter - The Hollywood Reporter
 

And in response it was a relatively humble (by her standards) Gwyneth who took to the podium to talk about how she’s continued to “keep declaring” herself, getting emotional at the end when she shares how much it means to her that this community has “welcomed me back”. 

@hollywoodreporter

#GwynethPaltrow accepts the Sherry Lansing Award at THR's WOMENinENTERTAINMENT gala.

♬ original sound - The Hollywood Reporter - The Hollywood Reporter

It’s not about whether or not we believe her. It’s about how she played in that room. And there are decisions that are often made in rooms like this in Hollywood that have surprised the public, social media, the amateur gossips on TikTok. But those rooms haven’t changed as much as they’ve claimed to have changed. 

 

If you want to watch RDJ’s entire introduction of Gwyneth, I’ve included the full video below. Don’t sleep on his mention of all the directors she’s worked with – it’s a list of names most actors would kill for, including…and I had forgotten this…Paul Thomas Anderson. Hard Eight was PTA’s feature directorial debut. PTA is now with Maya Rudolph, with whom GP has been friends since childhood. I know we all know, but I don’t know if everyone knows just how extensive Gwyneth Paltrow’s connections really are. 

Click here for more in Gwyneth in THR. And join us at The Squawk for a deeper dive. (App link here.)

Gwyneth Paltrow attended The Hollywood Reporter's Annual Women in Entertainment Gala with Brad Falchuk.
Photo credits: Lisa OConnor/ AFF-USA.COM / MEGA/ WENN

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