Gwyneth Paltrow’s dad once called her an ‘a—hole’

CEBU, Philippines - Gwyneth Paltrow opens up to Harper’s Bazaar magazine’s November “Daring” issue, and in it she addresses the scrutiny she faces for her candid attitude as well as the difficulties her children, daughter Apple Martin and son Moses Martin, will face as they grow up in the spotlight.

Part of raising them, Paltrow admits, includes encouraging them to take risks in their everyday life. “One hundred percent. In my case, I’ve borne these two kids into a particularly strange circumstance,” Paltrow explains. “They are going to have to fend off a lot and protect themselves from a lot of projections and prejudice about who they are, coming from the family that they come from.”

But the “Iron Man” actress isn’t too concerned about her daughter because she’s already marching to the beat of her own drum. “My daughter is super ballsy. I always follow her lead. I actually don’t need to encourage her to take risks,” Paltrow adds. “She likes to push herself; she wants to see how far she can get. It’s really inspiring to see that in a young woman.”

Although Paltrow is incredibly busy expanding her Goop line—she is launching goop Label, a clothing line, soon—the Oscar winner admits that it was her father Bruce Paltrow who set her on the path to success by setting her straight with brutal honesty about her attitude.

“I remember when I was maybe 27 years old and kind of at the height of my movie stardom—it was around the time of the Oscar and this and that. I think I was very much believing my own hype, which how could you not?” she recalls.

“I was sitting with my dad, feeling great about my life and everything that was happening, and he was like, ‘You know, you’re getting a little weird. You’re kind of an a--hole.’ And I was like, ‘What the hell?’ I was totally devastated.”

In hindsight, however, her dad’s words would change everything in the best way.

“But it turned out to be basically the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s the difference between someone who loves you more than anything in the world giving you criticism and getting it from some bitter stranger on the Internet,” she adds.

“What my dad said to me was the kind of criticism where I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m on the wrong track.’ I’m so grateful to him for doing that. He was such a no-nonsense guy in that sense.” (FREEMAN)