Andrew Yee
Gwyneth Paltrow is celebrating her 50th birthday in her birthday suit!
On Tuesday, Paltrow posted a naked photo of herself painted gold on Instagram. The pic was part of a photo shoot with photographer Andrew Yee.
Of the shoot, she shared on Goop, “All I know is that they’re painting me gold and that I have to be naked. I feel so good turning 50, and this is about expressing that sense of energy and optimism that I’m experiencing. It’s more about the female gaze and just a sense of fun.”
Andrew Yee
Gwyneth’s skin was prepped for the shoot with the help of makeup artist Lottie. Lottie used GOOPGENES’ face cream, eye cream, lip balm, and body butter. Gwyneth quipped, “I have never felt so moisturized.”
Gwyneth also enlisted the help of hairstylist Mark Townsend. He said, “We had so much fun. And Gwyneth was such a sport. We started the day with less and built to more and more gold. So for the first look — gold details on the eye and a golden hand — I did a big ’90s supermodel blowout, pushed back.”
He went on, “Lottie and I agreed it was important that the gold look the same on her skin and in her hair, so we used the same loose gold powder. But in her hair, it was harder to make it look like paint, not powder.”
As for the possibility that this is her last nude photo shoot, Gwyneth said, “I think aging is actually a beautiful thing. We just need to open our perceptions. As you become more yourself, in integrity, your life really opens up.”
Just days ago, Gwyneth published an essay about turning 50. She wrote, “I strangely have no sense of time passed. I am as connected to this feeling of longing, of promise — promise of the fall, of something ebbing — as I was 30 years ago. I understand on some level that life is linear, that I have lived x number of days thus far and I have more in the basket under my arm than I do in the field before me. But there is something about the sweetness of life that exists deep within me that is unchanged, that will not change. It is the essence of the essence. It seems to be getting sweeter.”
Andrew Yee
While she noted that her body was “less timeless,” she fully accepted “the marks and the loosening skin, the wrinkles.” Paltrow emphasized, “I accept my body and let go of the need to be perfect, look perfect, defy gravity, defy logic, defy humanity. I accept my humanity.”
Along with acknowledging her past mistakes, Paltrow explained how she wanted to move forward with her life. She shared, “I would like to slow down. I would like to retreat a little bit. I would like to make my circle smaller. I would like to cook dinner more. I would like to see misunderstandings become understandings. I would like to continue to open the deepest part of myself to my husband, even though it scares me. I would like to sing more, even if it’s just in the shower. I would like to tell anyone that had a negative experience with me that I am sorry. I would like to fully acknowledge myself.”
Gwyneth also mentioned her kids in her essay, calling them her “greatest accomplishments.” She added, “I think of my children, now old enough to remember this “big” birthday of mine into their own adulthoods. Perhaps their memory of it will be neither that I was solely elated, nor grieving the things I lost or did not bring to fruition. I hope that they can feel me feel all the things and hold in the complexity of that notion.”
In a recent interview with Vogue, Gwyneth felt “great” about her milestone birthday. She said, “I feel very happy and fulfilled and not scared and weirdly not freaked out about it.”
She recalled, “I remember turning 30 and feeling like there was so much pressure to be married and have a baby. I was not in a serious relationship when I turned 30, and I remember just thinking, I’m disappointing my parents. I haven’t married my stockbroker or a lawyer, and I’m this weird artist. When you’re in your 20s, you’re really a kid, and I think there’s this expectation that when you’re 30, you are going to really start to have a handle on your life. And then when I turned 40, I really freaked out.
Paltrow pointed out that turning 50 has been “a lot smoother” than she expected. She explained, “For the last year or so leading up to it, I have been ruminating on these different chapters in a woman’s life. What does it mean to go through perimenopause and then later menopause? And why is that a taboo, and why are we put out to pasture?”
“I’m really so happy with the people that my kids are, and I’m in a really fantastic relationship,” Gwyneth stressed. “And my work, even though it’s full of challenges, is very rewarding. I also feel very lucky to have my health and vitality.”