Gwyneth Paltrow opens up about her Hollywood star parents’ ‘scandalous’ marriage

Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed why her famous parents’ marriage was once viewed as “scandalous.”

The daughter of actor Blythe Danner and the late director Bruce Paltrow opened up about her holiday traditions in a video with Noa Tishby, who works as Israel’s former Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism. Published on the first night of Hanukkah, December 25, Paltrow reflected in the video on being raised in different religious backgrounds since her father is Jewish and her mother is Christian.

According to Paltrow, it was “interesting” to have parents who follow different religions, especially given how the couple’s family negatively viewed them for that. “I grew up in a time in the Seventies where I think interfaith marriage was kind of a big deal,” she said. “And so it was really hard for both of my parents’ parents that they were marrying each other. And it was a bit scandalous.”

The Goop founder said that initially, “no one” in her family “was happy” about her parents marrying because of their different faiths. However, both Danner and Bruce’s parents “grew to accept” their marriage “later in life.”

“They kind of let go of all of that,” Paltrow said. She then acknowledged how lucky she was to grow up with parents who came from “different worlds and faiths” than each other.

“I always felt an incredible pull to my Jewish family, I still do,” she said. “And just the traditions and the warmth and the unconditional love. And the food and the yelling and the family!”

Paltrow added: “I’m so close to everybody on that side of my family. We’re all kind of interwoven and so important to each other and just show up for each other again and again and again.”

Danner and Bruce Paltrow tied the knot in 1969, and they share two children: Gwyneth and her younger brother, Jake, 49. They were married for more than 30 years before Bruce died in 2002 at age 58 after a lengthy battle with throat cancer.

The Iron Man star has previously opened up about being raised by parents who worked in the entertainment industry. Last year, Paltrow addressed the ongoing debate about “nepo baby” culture – referring to how children with famous parents have gone on to work in Hollywood and gained much success.

“Now there’s this whole nepo baby culture, and judgment that exists around kids of famous people,” the actor told Bustle in October 2023.

She went on to emphasize that when children grow up with parents who are actors, they are more likely to become involved with the entertainment industry as well.

“The truth is if you grow up in a house with a lot of artists and people making art and music, that’s what you know, the same way that if you grow up in a house with law, the discussions around the table are about the nuances of whatever particular law the parents practice,” she said. “I think it’s kind of an ugly moniker.”

Paltrow is also a parent herself, sharing her 20-year-old daughter Apple and 18-year-old son Moses with ex-husband Chris Martin.