THE TRUTH ABOUT Gwyneth

THE MEN. THE MOVIES. THE CLEANSES. THE CONTROVERSIES. A JUICY NEW BIOGRAPHY REVEALS THE STAR AS NEVER BEFORE

- LIZ McNEIL

At just 12 days old, Gwyneth Paltrow arrived on her first Hollywood set to visit her mom, actress Blythe Danner. So began the illustrious life of the daughter of Danner and TV producer Bruce Paltrow. She quickly captivated audiences herself as she grew up, performing with her mother at the renowned Williamstown Theatre Festival at 8 and winning an Oscar at 26 as the willowy, magnetic star of Shakespeare in Love. She became a '90s It girl—though she called that “a joke” to her closest friends.

In 2008 the mom of two stepped into a new kind of role with the launch of Goop, which became an online platform for lifestyle and wellness advice—and a showcase for her rarefied taste. Each detox cleanse, exorbitantly pricey gift guide and unsubstantiated health endorsement (like inserting a jade egg vaginally to “balance hormones”) made headlines. A dishy new biography, Gwyneth, excerpted exclusively here, goes deep on both the glamour and the gossip. Now 52, Gwyneth is “one of the biggest and most polarizing cultural influencers of the 21st century,” says author Amy Odell. “As the main narrator of her own public story, Gwyneth has masterfully shaped our perception of her. Talking to people from all different aspects of her life, you get a much more complex and fascinating picture.”

In 1984 Gwyneth enrolled at the posh private school Spence in Manhattan and quickly charmed her classmates.

She had strangely potent charisma, and other Spence girls—even seniors—wanted to invest in knowing this new middle schooler. But other students seemed to feel threatened. One classmate recalled, “Not one person had a doubt that she was going to be famous.”