A new book sheds light on the reason behind Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt’s breakup, including her crush on another actor and their contrasting upbringings.
One of the most beloved couples of the ‘90s, the pair met when Gwyneth auditioned for the 1993 romantic western, Legends of the Fall. The part eventually went to Julia Ormond, but Brad and Gwyneth felt an immediate connection. He later suggested she play his wife in the thriller, Se7en.
The actress was also offered a role in Feeling Minnesota alongside Keanu Reeves, but she turned it down to work with Brad.
An upcoming biography about Gwyneth Paltrow uncovers details behind her breakup with Brad Pitt
Image credits: Getty/Emma McIntyre
The A-listers started dating in 1994 and became engaged two years later.
According to author Amy Odell, who wrote the book "Gwyneth: The Biography," the Goop founder didn’t see a future with Brad and confided her doubts about the relationship to a film producer.
“Gwyneth expressed doubts to a crew member [while making the 1996 film Emma] that Pitt was right for her, and admitted she had a crush on Hugh Grant,” reads the book, as per People.
Additionally, the biography recounts an interview in which Gwyneth shared an anecdote to illustrate the differences in her and Brad’s backgrounds.
The couple met during auditions for Legends of the Fall and later worked together on Se7en
Image credits: Simon & Schuster
“Brad and I have very different upbringings,” she told an interviewer. “So when we go to restaurants and order caviar, I have to say to Brad, ‘This is beluga and this is osetra.’”
Gwyneth grew up in a privileged household in Manhattan, as her parents were movie producer Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner. The Fight Club actor was raised in Missouri by a school counselor and the owner of a trucking company.
Image credits: Getty/Kevin.Mazur
According to the author, the Oscar-winning actress “thought [Brad] wasn't sophisticated enough for her. She thought she was smarter, better educated, more sophisticated.”
Gwyneth and Brad broke up in mid 1997.
The actors began dating in 1994 and separated in 1997
Image credits: New Line Cinema
Gwyneth’s admission did not sit well with many social media users, who labeled the actress "insufferable” and “snobbish.”
“Brad Pitt dodged a bullet! That marriage would have lasted 15 minutes. She is such a brat!” wrote one user.
“She's insufferable. I've never understood her appeal,” commented someone else.
A third shared: “Something tells me that Brad Pitt isn’t losing any sleep over that long-ago breakup.”
Gwyneth explained in interviews that, in contrast to Brad, she wasn’t ready for marriage
Image credits: Instagram/gwynethpaltrow
In interviews, Gwyneth cited the age gap between her and Brad, along with her unreadiness for marriage, as reasons for their split.
“I wasn't ready, and he was too good for me,” she told Howard Stern in 2015.
More recently, in 2023, she appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast and said the breakup “was really hard,” noting that “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.”
A resurfaced interview suggests she also took issue with her and Brad’s “different upbringings”
In March, Gwyneth suggested that she and Brad had parted amicably, referring to the Hollywood star as a “very intriguing character” and comparing him to a prince.
“It's like having dated, I don't know, Prince William or something. That's always going to come up,” she told Vanity Fair.
After the split, Gwyneth went on to date Ben Affleck. She later married Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, with whom she had a daughter, Apple, and a son, Moses. The couple divorced in 2016.
Social media users criticized Gwyneth as “insufferable” and “snobbish” following the revelations
Brad married Jennifer Aniston before tying the knot with Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star, Angelina Jolie.
Brad and Angelina share six children: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne. Their divorce was finalized in December 2024, following an eight-year legal battle.
The 61-year-old actor is now in a relationship with jewelry designer Ines de Ramon, while Gwyneth is married to producer Brad Falchuk, whom she met on the set of Glee in 2010.
Social media users reacted to Gwyneth’s comment about her differences with Brad
