Gwyneth Paltrow has been one of the most talented and sought-after actors in Hollywood. Paltrow won an Oscar at the age of just 26 for playing Viola de Lesseps in John Madden’s 1998 period romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love.
The actor beat industry legends Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Fernanda Montenegro, and Emily Watson to win the Best Actress in a Leading Role Award at the 71st Oscars. However, the outcome of her win was not always great as the actor admitted that he had an identity crisis after her Oscar win.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Identity Crisis After Her Oscar Win
Shakespeare in Love is one of the highly acclaimed movies and certainly a John Madden masterpiece. Also, it is fair to say that Viola de Lesseps was Gwyneth Paltrow’s one of the best performances in her career. However, Paltrow’s Oscar win came at a serious cost. Following the biggest achievement of her career, the actor had to go through an identity crisis. “Once I won the Oscar, it put me into a bit of an identity crisis,” Paltrow said in a Call Her Daddy podcast episode.
“Because if you win the biggest prize, like what are you supposed to do? And where are you supposed to go? 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.”
It was not easy for the Iron Man star. “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,” the 51-year-old continued. “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.” However, the actor bounced back and went on to star in several significant movies.
Also read: Gwyneth Paltrow Won Ben Affleck’s Heart With One Kind Gesture After Their Painful Breakup
Gwyneth Paltrow Addressed Her Controversial Oscar Win
Paltrow’s Oscar win shocked many and created a huge uproar saying it didn’t make any sense. But the controversy and her accomplishment at the 1999 Oscars has taught the actor some valuable lessons. In an interview with the TODAY Show the Seven actor revealed most of what she learned from the experience.
“I think it was probably around the time of winning the Oscar where you go from people kind of being curious about you or discovering you or rooting for you to it all being upended, and people really wanting to tear you down and take great pleasure in it. Which ends up being a really beautiful lesson in knowing who you are, loving the people you love. Being totally in integrity. And like f**k everybody else,” Paltrow said.
Paltrow, who earlier stated that she didn’t love acting as much as she thought she would, decided to take a break from acting and focus more on her lifestyle brand Goop.
