Gwyneth Paltrow on the ‘Disorienting’ Feeling of Winning an Oscar
Gwyneth Paltrow recently revealed on the Call Her Daddy podcast that she had “a bit of an identity crisis” after winning an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love.
Gwyneth Paltrow made a name for herself as an actress, starring in works such as The Royal Tenenbaums and Iron Man. In 1999, she took home the Oscar for Best Actress for her work on Shakespeare in Love.
Paltrow recently opened up on the Call Her Daddy podcast about her Oscar win. The star was only 26 when she took home the award and was up against icons like Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep.
Gwenyth Paltrow in Pink Ralph Lauren gown at Oscars 1999 pic.twitter.com/1AgaDU1oLh
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Paltrow explained, “Once I won the Oscar, it put me into a bit of an identity crisis, because if you win the biggest prize, like what are you supposed to do? And where are you supposed to go?” She continued, “It was hard the amount of attention that you receive on a night like that and the weeks following, it’s so disorienting. And frankly, really unhealthy. I was like, ‘This is crazy. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know which way is up.’ It was a lot. Not that I would give it back or anything, it was an amazing experience, but it kind of called a lot of things into question for me.”
Paltrow’s acceptance speech became infamous, as the star broke down into tears while thanking her parents. Her parents, Blythe Danner and Bruce Paltrow were sitting next to her when she won. The speech garnered a lot of negative attention from the press.
Paltrow’s father was sick with cancer, but the tabloids were unaware of that fact. He passed away in 2002. Paltrow shared, “He was really debilitated. It was just this totally overwhelming moment.” She continued, “I cried and people were so mean about it and I just thought, ‘Wow there’s this big energy shift that’s happening. I think I’m going to have to learn to be less openhearted and much more protective of myself and filter people out better.’”
Paltrow then explained the shift she felt happened after her speech. She shared, “I felt a real pivot on that night because I felt like up until that moment everybody was kind of rooting for me in a way…And then when I won, it was like too much, and I could feel a real turn.”
To watch the entire interview, Call Her Daddy is streaming on Spotify. A clip from the interview where Paltrow shares about her dating life is available below.
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