Gwyneth Paltrow opens up about fame: 'Lonely is the right word'

Gwyneth Paltrow had room to open up about the suffocating pressures she has experienced as an A-lister in Hollywood while visiting the Anna Faris is Unqualified podcast.

Faris, also a very famous and successful actress, asked Paltrow about her relationship to fame and if she has ever truly felt anonymous.

"The surreal part is having been famous basically my whole adult life," the 48-year-old said, "so I don't know what it means to be a grownup without all of the scrutiny and all of the wonderful things and terrible things that come with being a famous person."

Perhaps the best illustration of that came when Paltrow won her first and only Oscar in 1999 at 27 years old. She claimed best leading actress for her role of Viola De Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love, which won seven Oscars overall. Paltrow described the underbelly of the accomplishment to Faris, (beginning at the 8-minute, 15-second mark): 

"It was the weirdest, most surreal time, and, you know, you're also kind of embarrassed that you're nominated for an Oscar. You have imposter syndrome, and you think, 'I can't even believe this is happening. I'm not even that good. Does everybody hate me?' ... In L.A., everybody was so supportive. I remember winning and the tide sort of turned, and there was this feeling of when you have that much attention on you and that much energy, it was really, really overwhelming. I remember I was staying with my parents at their house in Santa Monica, and I just kind of, like, hid for three weeks afterwards. It was so intense, and I felt so—lonely is the right word. It was really strange."

Paltrow went on to elaborate on how she "burned myself out" as an actress, exacerbated by the "intense public scrutiny" she received.

After Shakespeare in Love, Paltrow landed plenty of mainstream roles. She co-starred with Matt Damon, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett and Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), then went on to appear as Pepper Potts in the Avengers and Iron Man franchises. In television, she had a recurring role in Glee—she won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series—before most recently starring in Ryan Murphy's Netflix dramatic comedy The Politician. 

Paltrow is now best known as a businesswoman, having founded Goop. What began as a newsletter in 2008 has exploded into an extremely all-natural lifestyle and wellness brand heard around the world.