Gwyneth Paltrow: ‘I still miss my dad so much... he was kind of a philosopher’’
Gwyneth Paltrow still misses her dad “so much”.
The Oscar-winning Goop founder, 50, was left devastated when her father Bruce Paltrow died in October 2002 aged 58 after a long battle with throat cancer while they were on holiday in Rome to celebrate the actress’ birthday.
Now, nearly 21 years after his passing, Gwyneth told fans: “I miss my dad so much and I miss his humour.
“I was just on a walk with a friend this morning, and even she was talking about the things that my dad used to say. His phrases. He was kind of a philosopher, in his own way. And just had the most brilliant one-liners.”
She added about the help her dad gave her: “He helped me get through life and how to deal with a lot of stuff, and he would have helped me keep perspective all the time.”
Gwyneth opened up about her lingering grief over Bruce’s death during a question and answer session with her 8.3 million followers on her Instagram Stories on Wednesday. (30.08.23)
She paid tribute to her father when responding to one fan who posted the question: “What do u miss the most from your dad?”
Gwyneth paid tribute to her late dad by giving her son Moses, now 17, the middle name of Bruce.
Along with the teenager, she and her Coldplay frontman ex-husband Chris Martin, 46, also share 19-year-old daughter Apple Martin, who has a middle name of Blythe – in honour of Gwyneth’s 80-year-old actress mum Blythe Danner.
Gwyneth also paid tribute to Bruce when she tied the knot with her now-husband Brad Falchuk, 52, in 2018.
The actress said on an episode of Dax Shepard‘s ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast in 2019 she and Brad had said “I do” near the tree where her dad’s ashes are buried during their ceremony in the Hamptons, New York.
She added on the show about her ongoing grief over the loss of her dad: “For years, I would go into the deepest depression of all time around my birthday and then I thought, ‘I’ve got to reframe this somehow. My father would not want this for me.’
“My birthday is September 27 and so this past September, I got married on the 29th of September.
“(My dad’s) ashes are buried under this beautiful tree at my house and we got married there – right near my dad… kind of on my dad.
“I still have a hard time with it. He was such an intentional father, and he was so observant and so deeply supportive and set us up to win all the time.
“And now I have a 14-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son and I’m like, ‘F***, I need to call my dad. I need to talk to my dad.’
“And I don’t have that person. I have incredible people in my life, but I don’t have their grandfather, who was also the greatest father in the world.”