15 Reasons Why Hollywood And Gwyneth Paltrow Don't Work Together Anymore
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For a time in the late 1990s and 2000s, Gwyneth Paltrow was one of the most dependable stars in Hollywood. She came to fame on the arms of Brad Pitt with an engagement that sadly ended. She then had a fling with Ben Affleck to get her more in the limelight. But Paltrow was soon rising up with her acting talents, selling herself brilliantly. She hit her height with her performance in Shakespeare in Love, her role of an Elizabethan woman posing as a male actor winning Paltrow the Oscar for Best Actress. Further successful movies followed as she’s gained further fame for turns like the quirky Holly on Glee. She also is famed as Pepper Potts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and thus nicely regarded as an actress.
But in recent years, Paltrow’s star has faded in Hollywood. Too many flops have harmed her standing as well as how she’s stepping away from acting more. She focuses on her businesses with the lifestyle/beauty line Goop (complete with magazine) and various charities. However, Paltrow has been slammed a lot on her attitude. Accusations of diva behavior, of being out of touch with audiences and sheer arrogance have hurt her standing. There’s also how her interviews paint her as an amazingly pretentious woman that clashes with other people. All that has hurt Paltrow’s power in Hollywood to the point she seems to have quit. Here are 15 reasons why this woman fell from the top of the town’s “must have” charts and why her presence on a movie seems more a hindrance than a help.
She prefers the british
A fun bit from Paltrow was hosting Saturday Night Live in 1999 to promote Shakespeare In Love and doing her monologue in a British accent.
She even seemed to think she was British before Ben Affleck showed up to call her on it saying, “don’t pretend to be that way just so people like you.”
However, for a woman born in California and raised in New York, Paltrow seems to prefer England. She’s also openly talked about how the British are “just so much more civilized” than Americans. True, Hollywood has a lot of love for the British but an American who seems to prefer the U.K. seems a bit off. Given the current mood, that just comes off worse and makes Paltrow more unlikeable.
Regular Folks Can’t Relate to Her
A key thing for Hollywood stars is the ability to connect to audiences. Actresses like Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence and even Julia Roberts can give the air of somehow being able to relate to regular moviegoers and pull them in. But Paltrow doesn’t quite have that same ability. She just comes off arrogant a lot and seriously disconnected from regular folks.
Nothing proves that more than her infamous comment to UK Elle where she said, “I can’t pretend to be someone who only makes $25,000 a year.”
There’s also how she lives a serious high-profile lifestyle and where she promotes various rich items. She couldn’t even divorce in a normal way, calling her split from Chris Martin “a conscious uncoupling,” a truly pretentious phrase. Her various interviews have her remarking about some of her upscale vacations, her various nutty ventures, some of her goofy beliefs and more.
She’s a Diva on set
Granted, being a Hollywood star means having a big ego. Yet by reports, Paltrow always had something of a large level of arrogance early on. It may have come from her upbringing as when your mom is already a big Hollywood actress, you get used to a life of glamour. Reports abound of her being quite demanding on sets, always wanting the best lighting and pushing to have herself filmed better than her co-stars.
According to the Daily Mail, when she visits the spa, Paltrow ensures that the shower stalls are cleaned out before she steps foot in them. Then there’s her constant demands for higher pay, even though she has never carried a movie well on her own. She comes off nice but behind the scenes, Paltrow’s diva behavior is another reason studios don’t like her.
Defending Weinstein
Perhaps the worst thing about the revelations of the horrible behavior of Harvey Weinstein is that it was no real secret. Stories have abounded for years about the guy taking advantage of actresses in horrible ways and yet people kept on working with him and hailing him as a major force in Hollywood. It seems few were willing to speak out because of the power Weinstein had.
Paltrow did, as it was thanks to Weinstein’s promotions that Shakespeare in Love won Oscars for Best Picture and Paltrow Best Actress. According to ET online, Paltrow has come out with tales of Harvey harassing her. However, this is somewhat negated by the fact she’s spoken warmly of Weinstein in the past and even credited him for helping her career. So this, naturally, makes her somewhat of a hypocrite.
hollywood standards
Unfortunately, there is a double standard in Hollywood, and she probably knows it. When you're a man, more often than not, the older you get, the more relevant and likely to be cast you are. See, men are known in Hollywood for aging gracefully, but women are basically not allowed to age at all.
Though she remains beautiful, it doesn't matter to Hollywood. The moment you show yourself growing older in a way that is anything slightly less than stunning, or don't have work to fix it, you're automatically casted less. Of course, this only applies to women. Unfair, isn't it?
Too Much Yoga
Yoga is a good thing in Hollywood. Many stars talk about it and boast about how much it helps them, but as usual she has to take it a step too far. Paltrow speaks of it as though it is a religion.
Paltrow has gushed about yoga in spiritual terms and told glamour.com that it has led her to a “higher state of being.”
This leads to the troubling aspect that Paltrow is claiming yoga can easily solve any health issue no matter how serious it can be. The way she promotes it as a cure-all for so many mental and physical issues is annoying. It’s rumoured Paltrow insists on doing it constantly, even during meetings which has to be quite distracting. There’s nothing wrong with trying to be in shape and it can help, but every doctor will tell you there is such a thing as too much exercise and this is leading to a backlash against Paltrow.
She’s Never Been a Box Office Draw
Look at Paltrow’s career and one thing is obvious: She’s never been able to open a movie on her own. Her biggest successes have been part of an ensemble or such. Shakespeare in Love was more a hit for its story and style than her performance. And of course, there’s no way you can claim folks were coming in to see Iron Man just for her.
The few times Paltrow has tried to headline a movie, the results have been bad.
This is clear with movies such as Duets, Bounce and Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow. Her last few appearances have included the mega-flop Mortdecai and just brief cameos in the last few MCU films. That’s a key reason she’s being ignored. She may have won an Oscar but is nowhere near the power to really carry a movie on her own. With so many huge names who can be box office talent, Paltrow just can’t work in carrying a film on her own.
She Grew Up Rich
Most mega-star actors grew up in poor conditions and thus their “rags to riches” story makes them more likeable. Others great up in middle-class and “normal” lives and thus can still connect with their rise to success. Paltrow, however, is different.
Her parents, Blythe Danner and Bruce Paltrow, were already rich to begin with. She attended Crossroads, a private school catering to the rich, where just going to kindergarten costs over $30,000. She then attended a private girls’ school in New York before heading to learn acting. It's very hard to like someone who had no trouble paying their dues, or in this case, didn't pay them at all.
People Still don't like Shakespeare in Love
This may sound trite but it still stands. Shakespeare in Love is now seen as one of the least-deserving Oscar winners in history. To be fair, it’s less the movie itself, which can be good. It’s more that it won Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan, a stunning upset which most cite as the Miramax publicity machine all but openly bribing Academy voters.
Paltrow won Best Actress, beating out Cate Blanchett’s turn in Elizabeth which most thought was more deserving, and the Telegraph noted that as a great surprise as well. As the years have gone by, Shakespeare continues to be not well received, many citing it as trite and a good cast but not a worthy Best Picture winner. People didn't think she deserved an Oscar just for dressing up as a man. Maybe it’s petty but Hollywood is a town where old grudges last a long time and with the backlash on Miramax, Shakespeare just looks worse and some blame Paltrow for it.
She takes things a bit too far
Diva behavior is one thing. However, many of Paltrow’s actions have people thinking she’s seriously unbalanced. There was how she posed for the first issue of Goop magazine in a massive mud bath with a giant grin. There’s her unbelievable talk on her kids pick vegetables from her yard before going to “senior school.”
According to CNN, she seriously claimed that reading bad names about her on the Internet was “like being in warfare.”
She seems to think water has feelings as she plays music and even talks to the ocean. She claimed to have heard rocks talking to her while hiking in Arizona. There was also when she did an ad for a charity having her in beads and some “tribal” makeup saying the line “I Am African.” All of those things definitely do not work in her favour.
Her Ridiculous Prices
It’s noted how a lot of celebrities have a hard time remembering what it’s like to not have loads of money. Paltrow can show that majorly, mainly in her prices for her Goop merchandise. It was shown that if you wanted to buy everything in the 2017 Goop catalog, it would cost you about $6 million. The prices are utterly obscene for things you can easily grab at your local supermarket for a pittance. There’s $900 toilet paper; $125,000 for 18K dumbbells; a $250 toothpaste squeezer; a tank for jellyfish; and jeans that run $90 for the cheapest pair.
True, a lot of stars have some expensive stuff for their catalogs but never to this degree. Even Oprah realizes it’s important to have some affordable stuff for her fans but Paltrow seems to think everyone has a limitless bank account. The insane prices for her stuff makes her look more like a diva.
Her Name
That name has always carried some issues. It’s not really a name that rolls off the tongue. Rumour has it that Paltrow was pressured to change it when she started out but insisted on keeping her real name. A major issue is that it comes off rather pretentious. It’s the kind of name you associate with some fancy upper-class lady who looks down on others. Which some claim isn’t that far from Paltrow herself.
Frankly, it just doesn’t seem the kind of name folks can get behind, not lending itself to the clever nicknaming or such that helps major stars shine more. Paltrow just doesn’t connect as well as other stars and thus it’s harder for fans to get behind someone whose name just cries out “I’m better than you” off the bat.
That Goop Related incident
At a recent Goop event, Paltrow introduced medium Laura Lynne Jackson who began her long talk on how “death doesn’t exist.” This is a bizarre timing given that Goop is now in the news in the wrong way regarding just that.
According to the Telegraph, a woman was reported to have passed after undergoing one of Paltrow’s most noted beauty tips, apipuncture. This involves being stung in the face by bees with the idea that their toxin can cleanse someone and highlight their beauty.
This has been massively criticized from not working to just plain insane. The woman had been undergoing such treatments regularly for two years when she seized on the table and passed away later. The reasons should be obvious, as bee stings can be deadly and that venom piles up on you. The company has pushed aside what happened but it’s clear how it’s given a bad name to Paltrow that makes it harder to take a chance on her in a movie.
Her Beauty Tips are not so good
As noted, Paltrow is a bit…off with some of her ideas. And the beauty tips she dispenses via Goop are proof of it. Claiming that being stung by bees to help your face is one thing. She pushes a constant stream of supplements, even though many of them aren’t approved by doctors. There’s her idea of a “threading facial” that can be as damaging as any other bad facelift.
Her various exercise and sauna methods have been constantly debunked as nowhere near as effective as she claims they are.
There’s also the insistence on only using oils that have been “blessed” by monks. So many of these ideas are frankly out of the price range of common folk. However, even in Hollywood, a town used to some crazy stuff, many are astounded at just how goofy some of these tips are. It’s rare to find any celebrity who actually uses this stuff and thus Paltrow is seen as more nuts to be turned on by her peers.
She Doesn’t Care Anymore
Perhaps the most notable reason why Paltrow isn’t cast in Hollywood as much these days is brutally simple: she doesn’t care as much. Her acting jobs have wilted over the last several years. Paltrow seems to be concentrating more on her business with Goop and her various other business ventures.
She told Pagesix.com, that in Hollywood everyone "kissed my a**", and that she much prefers her change in lifestyle, as she is in control.
Granted, she has more than enough in the bank that she doesn’t need huge Hollywood paycheques and can still make the odd film now and then. But when someone basically claims that she’s “over” Hollywood, that naturally means she’s not going to be on any studio’s list of major stars to use. Thus, it’s not just Hollywood, even Paltrow doesn’t seem to want to cast herself these days.
