For actor Gwyneth Paltrow, maintaining a fit and healthy lifestyle has often been a top priority. But when Paltrow had to put on weight for a movie role, she had to sacrifice her fitness regimen. It was a compromise that Paltrow found a nightmare to adjust to.
Gwyneth Paltrow once panicked when she had to gain weight for a movie role
Paltrow has often been someone who takes her health seriously. In a fairly recent interview with Women’s Health, the actor discussed both the physical and emotional benefits she experienced through her diet and fitness regimen.
“I like feeling good, and I know I feel my best when I exercise. But it depends on the day — I definitely don’t always feel like doing it,” Paltrow said. “I’ve made it a habit, just like brushing your teeth. That’s how you have to look at it.”
Given the dedication she’s put in her fitness, it might be easy to see why Paltrow felt reluctant to increase her weight for work. In the 2010 movie Country Strong, Paltrow was instructed to pile on a lot of pounds to play a washed-up alcoholic singer. This required the actor to eat many calorie-dense foods, and abandon working out. But Paltrow was so against the physical transformation that she found herself working out anyway and lying to producers about it.
“The nightmare thing about it is I had to stop working out,” Paltrow once opened up to television host Chelsea Handler (via Contact Music). “At first I panicked so I would work out a little bit and then I had to lie and be like, ‘No, I didn’t work out.’ I’d be on the treadmill and be like, ‘I really have to stop this.’”
The issues continued even after the movie, where the consequences of her weight gain really hit her.
“My body didn’t really fall apart until right after we finished the movie and now I’m having problems,” Paltrow said.
Gwyneth Paltrow once felt humiliated after having to put on a fat suit for ‘Shallow Hal’
Country Strong wasn’t the only time Paltrow had to change her body for a role. Years prior, Paltrow had to give up her often slim figure for the comedy movie Shallow Hal. Although instead of putting on weight for Hal, Paltrow had to put on a suit that made her look bigger. Afterward, the Oscar-winner felt hurt experiencing the reactions of others while she wearing the suit.
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“The first day I tried [the fat suit] on, I was in the Tribeca Grand [hotel in New York City] and I walked through the lobby. It was so sad; it was so disturbing. No one would make eye contact with me because I was obese,” Paltrow once said in an interview with W Magazine (via ABC News).
Apart from the responses she’d receive, a younger Paltrow was also alarmed by the wardrobe at her disposal.
“The clothes they make for women that are overweight are horrible. I felt humiliated because people were really dismissive,” she added.
‘Iron Man 2’ helped Gwyneth Paltrow achieve the shape of her life
Whereas films like Country Song required Paltrow to put on a few pounds, Iron Man 2 had the opposite effect. Speaking through her company Goop (via Telegraph), Paltrow opened up about the physical benefits that came with doing a Marvel movie. And how it motivated her to maintain her newfound physique even while she wasn’t filming the project.
“This regime got me into the shape of my life and I continue to return to it when I have a specific event so that I can do ridiculous things like be a 37 year old mother of two and wear shorts,” Paltrow wrote.
She credited her personal trainer, Tracy Anderson, for putting the actor through the life-changing workout routine.
“Also, to really get in line, I followed her strict diet for 5 days to lose my extra winter weight. Now, I am not a good dieter and I cannot ever do it for long, only when there is a goal in sight, which there was in this case,” she explained.
