Gwyneth Paltrow has opened up about the “shame” she felt after her romance with Brad Pitt came to an end in the 1990s, reflecting on the emotional fallout of their high-profile age-gap relationship.
Speaking on the Friends Keep Secrets podcast Tuesday, Iron Man star described her three-year relationship with the Ocean Eleven as “overwhelming.”
She explained to hosts Benny Blanco, Lil Dicky and Kristin Batalucco, “I was very young and he was this beautiful movie star.”
Paltrow recalled meeting him while filming Se7en, “I met him on set and we had kind of a love at first sight thing. It was pretty awesome. It was really fun.”
“I was just young, and we were working all over different parts of the world,” the Oscar winner remembered.
After meeting in 1994, the couple got engaged in 1996 but ended their relationship a year later.
Paltrow reflected on whether their romance felt like “a fantasy than a reality,” saying it was “very heady” in some ways.
She revealed that she remains friends with Pitt, praising him as “great” and saying she loves him, while admitting she was “so bummed” when they split.
The mother of two reflected on their high-profile breakup, saying the media attention made the split feel “larger than life” and left her carrying an added sense of shame.
Gwyneth Paltrow's about her relationship with Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck
According to Amy Odell’s unauthorized biography Gwyneth: The Biography, Paltrow was reportedly “sad” following Pitt’s 2000 marriage to Jennifer Aniston.
The Shakespeare in Love star later dated Ben Affleck for three years.
In 2023, she told Call Her Daddy that Pitt had been the “major chemistry love” of her life, while Affleck was “technically excellent.”
Paltrow married Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, 49, in 2003, and the couple welcomed daughter Apple, 22, and son Moses, 20, before divorcing in 2016.
The blonde beauty has been married to TV writer and director Brad Falchuk, 55, since 2018.
