Gwyneth Paltrow is that kind of person who likes to stay friendly with her exes.

Especially her ex Ben Affleck.

Friends say the star is big on sending personal notes and gifts for births and other major celebrations, and Ben and his wife Jennifer Garner have been on the lucky receiving end of such gifts.

“Ben and Jen got one of Gwyneth’s famous notes this year just after Seraphina was born,” says the insider. “It was very nice, but it was a little too personal. Gwyneth made sure to mention how she was happy that Ben was finally creating the family he had always wanted, a family, which the two of them discussed in depth when they were dating. It just rubs Jen the wrong way.”

But that’s just the beginning of Paltrow’s too-close-for-comfort behavior.

Gwyneth has enrolled her children, Apple and Moses, in the same Beverly Hills school that Violet Affleck attends, according to our source.

“Luckily, Gwyneth and Chris are barely in California three months out of the year, so Jen should not have to run into her too often at school,” says the insider. “The other moms already have a problem with the paparazzi following the Garner-Afflecks, and Gwyneth Paltrow will only make the situation worse.”

So far Garner, and Paltrow’s husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, are playing it cool with the Ben/Gwyneth thing. Martin is so laid back, says our source, he actually promotes Gwyneth to stay in touch with Ben. And Jen is taking his cue.

“Jen will always allow Ben to have contact and friendship with Gwyneth,” the pal says. “But she doesn’t always like it.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Gwyneth Paltrow knows that in Hollywood, relationships don’t always last.

“A long-term relationship between two people is an ever-evolving organism,” she writes in her GOOP newsletter on Thursday. “Some stay the course, some fall, all stumble.”

The actress — who was engaged to Brad Pitt and dated Ben Affleck before marrying her husband of five years, rocker Chris Martin — then says she “asked a few very wise women, most of whom are in varying forms of longtime partnerships, for their insights.”

One expert Paltrow sought for tips? Monica Berg, a spiritual teacher and creative director at L.A.’s Kabbalah Center, of which the 36-year-old star is a follower.

“There are no stable marriages. There may be happy ones, but not stable ones,” Berg explains. “Either we are growing forward or falling backwards. This is true in all areas of our life … which is why I believe nurturing relationships is so important. We owe it to ourselves and those we love not to settle for mediocrity in any way, and instead to nurture and allow our relationships to become the source of joy, support and love that they were intended to be.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Gwyneth Paltrow knows that in Hollywood, relationships don’t always last.

“A long-term relationship between two people is an ever-evolving organism,” she writes in her GOOP newsletter on Thursday. “Some stay the course, some fall, all stumble.”

The actress — who was engaged to Brad Pitt and dated Ben Affleck before marrying her husband of five years, rocker Chris Martin — then says she “asked a few very wise women, most of whom are in varying forms of longtime partnerships, for their insights.”

One expert Paltrow sought for tips? Monica Berg, a spiritual teacher and creative director at L.A.’s Kabbalah Center, of which the 36-year-old star is a follower.

“There are no stable marriages. There may be happy ones, but not stable ones,” Berg explains. “Either we are growing forward or falling backwards. This is true in all areas of our life … which is why I believe nurturing relationships is so important. We owe it to ourselves and those we love not to settle for mediocrity in any way, and instead to nurture and allow our relationships to become the source of joy, support and love that they were intended to be.”

Source

Gwyneth Paltrow says Spain has “become a second home”.

The ‘Iron Man’ star spent a lot of time in the Mediterranean country filming cooking show ‘On the Road Again’ with chef Mario Batali and would happily leave New York and move there permanently.

The 36-year-old actress said: “It is so different from the United States. It seemed to have a history, and the buildings are years and years and years old. Here in the United States an old building is about 17 years old, and over there it’s from 500 B.C., it’s incredible.

“Also, the way people live over there. They seem to enjoy life a little bit more. They aren’t running around as much as in New York. They enjoy time with the family. They don’t always have their Blackberry on.”

Gwyneth has two children, Apple, five, and Moses, three, with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and loves to boast about their linguistic abilities.

She added: “Moses speaks a little bit of Spanish, but understands everything. Apple speaks a lot.”

It’s not the first time Gwyneth has criticized the American way of life.

In 2006, she sparked controversy when she told a Portuguese paper she liked “the English lifestyle” because it’s not as “capitalistic” as the US.

She was quoted as saying: “People don’t talk about work and money… they talk about interesting things at dinner.”

Gwyneth later claimed she was misquoted.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Gwyneth Paltrow says Spain has “became a second home.”

“It is so different from the United States. It seemed to have a history, and the buildings are years and years and years old. Here in the United States an old building is about 17 (years old), and over there it’s from 500 B.C., it’s incredible,” she tells the Associated Press.

“Also, the way people live over there. They seem to enjoy life a little bit more,” she continued. “They aren’t running around as much as in New York. They enjoy time with the family. They don’t always have their Blackberries on.”

(It’s not the first time she’s praised another country. In 2006, she stirred controversy for telling a Portuguese paper that she liked “the English lifestyle” because “it’s not as capitalistic as America. People don’t talk about work and money… they talk about interesting things at dinner.” She later said she was misquoted.)

Paltrow – who shot the PBS show Spain … on the Road Again with chef Mario Batali – says she visits Spain at least once a year and remains close to the family she lived with. She calls them “my Spanish mother” and “my brothers.”

She also says that she makes sure her children can speak Spanish.

Says the actress (who took her first trip to Spain as a teen), “Moses speaks
a little bit, but understands everything. Apple speaks a lot.”

Paltrow says she is also writing a book on U.S. cuisine with Spanish influence that is due out next year.

” … I love food, I love to eat,” she says. “I can’t go on diets. I have to do a lot of exercise.”

Source

One of the top Hindu scholars in the U.S., Rajan Zed, has admonished Gwyneth Paltrow and her website GOOP, which she claims is about ‘nourishing the inner aspect’.

Zed says:  “There are not many deep, spiritual and philosophical thoughts in the blog, which are an essential part of nourishing the inner self.  The actress needs to grow-up and stop writing about mundane topics like ‘Boots by Gucci’, ‘Banana Pancakes’, ‘The Hungry Cat’ and ‘Tweezerman’ – in which she talks about taming the unruly eyebrows of men. Instead, she needs to talk about topics like realising self, immortality, deeper reality, eternity, soul, inner realms of the mind and spirit, pure consciousness. That’s if she’s truly serious about inner aspect.”

Zed fears that Paltrow is leaving impressionable readers with a superficial image of spirituality, implying that nourishing the inner self requires little more than beauty treatments disguised as deep philosophical musings.

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photo: bauer-griffin

In her latest GOOP newsletter, she reveals that “back in the day, I had a ‘frenemy’ who, as it turned out, was pretty hell-bent on taking me down.”

“This person really did what they could to hurt me. I was deeply upset, I was angry, I was all of those things you feel when you find out that someone you thought you liked was venomous and dangerous. I restrained myself from fighting back. I tried to take the high road,” she continues.

“But one day I heard that something unfortunate and humiliating had happened to this person,” writes Paltrow. “My reaction was deep relief and…happiness. There went the high road.”

Justjared suggests she could be referring to Winona Ryder, who was arrested in 2001 for shoplifting an estimated $4,760 worth of clothes from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.

Paltrow signs off by asking, “So, why does it feel so good to hear something bad about someone you don’t like? Or someone you DO like? Or someone you don’t KNOW?”

So she asked a tabloid newspaper editor “why all of the stories about a famous British couple had a negative bent.”

“He said that when the headline was positive, the paper didn’t sell,” Paltrow continues. “Why is that? What’s wrong with us? I asked the sages to shed a little light. Here’s to washing our mouths out with soap… Love, Gwyneth.”

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