“There was an aspect of it that was very heady,” the Oscar winner recalled of her previous relationship with Pitt
Credit: Kevin Mazur Archive/WireImage
NEED TO KNOW
- Gwyneth Paltrow appeared on the Tuesday, Sept. 9 episode of Friends Keep Secrets, where she reflected on her past relationship with Brad Pitt
- The former couple’s relationship began after meeting on the set of Se7en, and they broke off their engagement in 1997
- She said that their relationship itself was famous, so the press aspect of the relationship made it feel larger than life in a way
Gwyneth Paltrow is opening up about how she felt following her split from Brad Pitt.
On Tuesday, Sept. 9, the Oscar winner, 53, appeared on Benny Blanco, Lil Dicky and Kristin Batalucco’s podcast, Friends Keep Secrets, where she opened up about her career and having her personal life in the spotlight, including her relationship with Pitt.
After Blanco (real name Benjamin Levin), 38, brought up the subject, Paltrow explained how she and Pitt, 62, met after she was cast in Se7en. She said their relationship began when she was around 22 and Pitt was 31.
“I met him on set and like we had like kind of a love at first sight thing,” she recalled. “It was pretty awesome. It was really fun.”
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Paltrow called the experience “overwhelming,” noting that she was being recognized as Pitt’s girlfriend as her fame as an actress grew.
“I was just young, and we were working all over different parts of the world,” Paltrow said.
The former couple met in 1994, were engaged in 1996 and broke it off in June 1997.
Lil Dicky (real name David Burd), 38, asked Paltrow if their relationship felt more “like a fantasy than a reality.” While Paltrow acknowledged “there was an aspect of it that was very heady,” she explained. “I was very young and he was this beautiful movie star.”
The Marty Supreme actress clarified that they are still friends today, calling him a “great guy and I love him.”
Credit: Dave Benett/Getty
When they did break up, she was “so bummed,” Paltrow said.
“I think the press aspect and all that makes it feel larger than life in a way,” she said. “You have to carry this faux cultural importance piece, this extra burden and this extra shame that it didn’t work out.”
Paltrow has spoken about her relationship with Pitt in the past. In 2023, she explained on the Call Me Daddy podcast that she called off their engagement because she wasn’t ready to marry, noting she was still “totally heartbroken when we broke up.”
“It was the right thing at that time, but it was really hard,” Paltrow explained at the time. “There were a number of things that had happened, he was nine years older than me — he knew what he wanted, he was ready to do it and I was kind of all over the place.”
“So it was really one of those difficult things, where I felt like, ‘Oh my God, not only am I not ready, I’m not living up to the standards again.’ It was a familiar refrain I felt about myself,” she added.
Credit: Friends Keep Secrets/YouTube
After Pitt, Paltrow married Coldplay frontman Chris Martin in 2003, from whom she separated amicably in 2014. They share two kids: Apple, 22, and Moses, 20. Paltrow then married Brad Falchuk in 2018.
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