Actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Photo / Getty Images
Michele Manelis talks with Gwyneth Paltrow ahead of The Politician, just launched on Netflix
You have an unusual family life. You're still close with your ex-husband, Chris Martin, you're newly married to producer-writer Brad Falchuck and you all seem to be in sync and do family events together. Presumably you
do this for your children [Apple, 15, Moses, 13]?
Yes. And I think they appreciate that we are still a family and they love the closeness. My children are real family-people, whether it's just us or our extended family. And so yeah, I got remarried almost a year ago.
And you and your husband lived apart for the first year?
Yes. We decided for the first year to keep our separate residences and make the transition for the kids a little bit more gentle, because we both have two teenagers. And it's actually worked out well. We finally moved in together recently, which is really fun. We are trying to make the transition easy on the children.
In raising kids, what was one of the primary lessons you wanted to teach them?
I think as a mother, for me, it's very important that I raise children who are not scared to feel their feelings. I think a lot of us were raised in a generation where we were told, "Don't feel that, don't show that. It's not appropriate to show anger or sadness at the dinner table." I think our generation was really taught to suppress emotion and I actually think it's not good for our souls. We're human beings and we experience a cross-section of emotions every day. That's part of being human.
How do you express anger?
Well, of course there's a time and a place for anger and a way to express it but the idea that we are taught to not feel it, I actually think is really harmful. So, if I'm in the car and I lose my temper because there's an idiot driving in front of me, then I say to my kids, "I'm sorry but I'm feeling a little road rage today, I'm getting my anger out today." But I do think when we say to children, "That's bad. Don't feel that way," it creates shame. And it's so natural to feel anger or hatred or grief or any of those things that are harder for us to feel. And I think the more that we can say, "Hey, just feel it," then it goes through faster and I think it's much healthier.
I spoke to your ex, Brad Pitt, recently and he said that sitting in traffic will free your anger.
That's true!
On the subject of the "other" Brad, your husband, what's it like working with him as director-writer on The Politician?
It's great to work with him. He's a brilliant writer. And he's the only person who I think could have really got me back to acting. And it's fun. I love it when he directs me. He's my favourite director. And I love the show. I also really like the outfits.
Are you careful not to take the work home with you?
No. We talk about work at home. I mean, we have other stuff to talk about mostly but it was a great experience and working with his partner, Ryan [Murphy] too, we had all worked together on Glee and had such a fun experience and so it was nice to be back with all those guys.
Your Goop empire is reportedly worth US$250 million [$400m]. You've come a long way since you started. How did it come about?
It's funny to think that I sent out the first newsletter in 2008 but for probably three years before that, I was thinking about doing it. I was fascinated by the digital space and I have always loved travel, cooking and wellness. To be honest, I was even more passionate about that than acting. And then when I had my kids I really thought, I'm not sure if I can go off for three months and make a film. That's when the creativity for the idea for Goop really started happening. I think if you have passion for doing something like that, you should do it. You only live once.
What about the criticism you've come under because of Goop?
Look, we are not prescriptive at Goop. We never say, "You should do this or do that." We just have Q and As with experts on topics that we think are really interesting. I think that whenever you are trying to push on culture a little bit and move things forward, there's sometimes a lot of push-back.
What's your relationship to food these days?
I don't like to give anything up but if I'm starting to feel really run-down or if I've travelled a lot, I'll do seven days where I'm going to be really good with food, lots of hydration and no alcohol. But for the most part, I've relaxed a lot as I've got older. There's a difference between having french fries that are cooked in good oil and are fresh and something really processed out of a package. Or having really good-quality bio-dynamic wine or something that was done without a lot of chemicals and having something that's full of added sugar, etc. So I try to be mindful of the quality of the food more than I used to. I question - "is it fried, is it dairy?" In France, the quality of the cheese or in Italy, the quality of the produce, is so beautiful. And I think in America we're getting more aware of food, farmers' markets, the slow food movement. I think the millennial generation and Generation Z are really focused on eating fresh food. So I feel pretty hopeful about where the food culture is going.
The Politician screens on Netflix