Gwyneth Paltrow

I used to hate Gwyneth Paltrow. Well, “hate” is probably too strong a word but I did find her to be profoundly boring, plain, annoying and just generally insufferable, particularly when everyone loved her so much after Shakespeare in Love. For the record, that film was terrible, her performance crappy and her Oscar winning absolutely ludicrous (as most Oscar awards are).

And then, all of a sudden, I loved her.

Well, not exactly all of a sudden.

Sure, Gwyneth’s hit some pretty low points: naming her kid Apple, for instance, and starring in the most offensive and obnoxious film ever, Shallow Hal. I’m sure she was held at gun point throughout the entire, there can be no other plausible explanation.

But she’s also hit some highs.

Her role in Se7en, albeit secondary, was striking (and not only because she and her foetus end up chopped in a box) and I really liked her in both The Royal Tenenbaums and Two Lovers (the simple fact that she worked with James Gray and Joaquin Phoenix gives her serious brownie points).

Unlike other actors, which I used to like but don’t anymore because they’ve become these annoying nut-cases, adopting every child as far as the eye can see and craving ever more media-attention (yes, Brad, I’m talking to you!, although I blame Angelina, that bitch), Gwyn’s been increasingly wise, low-profile and sweet. She’s very discrete about her marriage with Chris Martin (mind you, I wouldn’t be shouting it off roof tops either if I were married to someone in Coldplay), her kids aren’t pranced around for publicity and her movie choices aren’t all bad.

Her blog, Goop, is another reason I started liking her more and more. It’s a beautiful blog, great posts with a lot of focus on restaurants and food which, of course, is a huge plus. Gwyenth’s surprisingly a pretty good cook and I even had her cookbook on my Amazon wishlist for a while (but then decided to be prejudiced and stick to believing that actresses can memorize lines, be pretty and little else, otherwise there’s really no justice on earth).

However, the turning point for me was her guest star role in Glee as the sassy, sexy sub-teacher Holly Holiday. She rocked that part, showed a true penchant for humour she should definitely explore more and, boy, can she sing.

I like her more and more with each interview I read and pics I see, like this one that blew my mind.

Shazaaaam!

This is what every 40-yr-old mom of two should look like.