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Gwyneth Paltrow recently took to Instagram to celebrate her 50th birthday by posting a joyous photo of herself in a bikini. Now she’s taken it one step further with a totally nude photoshoot.
The actor and Goop founder, who turned 50 on September 27, shared several images of herself in gold paint—and nothing else. “All I know is that they’re painting me gold and that I have to be naked,” Paltrow said of the photoshoot by Andrew Yee. “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.”
These images weren't the only way Gwyneth Paltrow marked the milestone; she also expanded on how she felt about the event in a post she wrote for Goop. After sharing how her parents spent their respective 50th birthdays—one happily, the other less so - Paltrow wrote about the passing of time in her own life. “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,” she said. “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.”
Woah!
Paltrow then went on to share how she felt about her body, specifically, at 50. “My body, a map of the evidence of all the days, is less timeless,” she said. “A collection of marks and irregularities that dog-ear the chapters. Scarred from oven burns, a finger smashed in a window long ago, the birth of a child. Silver hair and fine lines. The sun has left her celestial fingerprints all over me, as if she soaked a brush in dark-taupe watercolour, flecking it over my skin. And while I do what I can to strive for good health and longevity, to stave off weakening muscles and receding bone, I have a mantra I insert into those reckless thoughts that try to derail me: I accept. I accept the marks and the loosening skin, the wrinkles. 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.”
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Paltrow also opened up about past mistakes and believed that the most lasting ones came from not “standing fully” in her truth. However, she added that she doesn't believe in going back in time to correct any of those mistakes. Instead, she asked herself as she turned 50: What does she want to do with the rest of her time here?
The answer? “I would like to slow down,” she said. “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. I am imperfect, I can shut down and turn to ice, I have no patience, I swear at other drivers, I don’t close my closet doors, I lie when I don’t want to hurt feelings. I am also generous and funny. I am smart and brave. I am a searcher, and I can bring you along on my quest for meaning. When I love you, you will feel it encompass you through time and space and till the end of the earth. I am all of it.”
This story was originally published in GLAMOUR (US).
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