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Gwyneth Paltrow uses her 1999 Oscar trophy as a doorstop: ‘It works perfectly’

Paltrow won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1999 for her role in ‘Shakespeare in Love’

Tom Murray
Tuesday 10 October 2023 00:12 BST
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Gwyneth Paltrow uses Oscars trophy as doorstop

Gwyneth Paltrow showed off the unusual location for her Oscar trophy during a new video interview.

Paltrow, 51, won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1999 for her role in Shakespeare in Love as the Bard’s fictional lover, Viola de Lesseps.

The Iron Man star was taking part in Vogue’s popular YouTube series “73 Questions” when she and the cameraman/interviewer stumbled upon her Oscar trophy propping up a door in her garden.

“What a beautiful Academy Award,” says the interviewer as the camera pans from the floor to Paltrow’s face.

“My doorstop! It works perfectly,” Paltrow responds.

Her Oscar triumph is considered one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history as many had predicted Cate Blanchett would win for Elizabeth.

Paltrow reflected on the win, which came when she was just 26 years old, during a May interview on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.

All is not fair in “Shakespeare in Love” and Oscars war.

Gwyneth Paltrow is looking back on her 1999 Best Actress win for “Shakespeare in Love” and the icy reception to her beating out fellow nominees like Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett.

“Once I won the Oscar, it put me into a bit of an identity crisis because if you win the biggest prize, like, what are you supposed to do? And where are you supposed to go?” Paltrow said.

“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. 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. 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.”

She added that the press in the UK eviscerated her for crying on stage; although, her father was sick with cancer at the time. He later died in 2002.

“I cried and people were so mean about it and I just thought, ‘Wow there’s this big energy shift that’s happening. I think I’m going to have to learn to be less openhearted and much more protective of myself and filter people out better.’”

She added: “I felt a real pivot on that night because I felt like up until that moment everybody was kind of rooting for me in a way. And then when I won, it was like too much, and I could feel a real turn.”

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