Gwyneth Paltrow was in her mid twenties when she first shot to fame in the 90s, notching up period drama roles in Emma and Shakespeare in Love – and landing the real-life role every woman wanted at the time, as Brad Pitt’s girlfriend.
Her acting talent, along with her trademark flaxen blonde hair, pale blue eyes and lithe physique, quickly propelled her to A-list status.
Thirty years on and Paltrow has managed another feat many of us would love to know how to do.
The Californian star and health guru, now 53, has managed to wrench back the hands of time and look just as good now as she did as a fresh-faced Hollywood starlet.
Photos this week showed the Oscar-winning star donning a skimpy string white bikini as she reclined on a yacht in sultry Sardinia.
A white string bikini isn’t the easiest look to carry off when you’re 53…but Gwyneth Paltrow makes it look easy; the star pictured enjoying a sojourn on a yacht in Sardinia this week
Gwyneth pictured back in 2003 when the star was 31 on designer Valentino’s yacht off the coast of Majorca
Gwyneth, who has sparked controversy in recent weeks with her appearance in a glossy advert for an Israeli real estate company, is holidaying on the Italian isle with husband Brad Falchuk, 55.
During the mother-of-two’s three decades in the public eye, the bikini has been her go-to holiday swimwear of choice and, as the photographs of the tanned and tousled-haired celebrity show this week, that hasn’t changed a jot.
So, how does the Goop founder, who shares children Apple, 22, and Moses, 20, with Coldplay frontman ex Chris Martin, defy the weight gain minefield that often comes with the middle – and menopausal – years.
Gwyneth has famously been evangelical about her various diets over the years, including a softening approach in more recent times towards carbs.
Here’s some of the ways Ms Paltrow has maintained her bikini figure…
THE ‘VERY, VERY HEALTHY’ MACROBIOTIC DIET ERA
Same string bikini look, different colour: the A-lister pictured in 2011; she adhered to a macrobiotic diet – largely eliminating dairy and meat when her late father Bruce Paltrow was diagnosed with throat cancer. Right: The star photographed on a yacht in Capri, Italy in 2018
The word macrobiotic was largely unheard of until Gwyneth revealed in 1999 that she’d overhauled how she approached food and was following a strict new regime.
The decision to follow a diet that puts whole grains, fruits, vegetables and fish front and centre, ousting out any meat or dairy was, the Shallow Hal star said, inspired as a way of supporting her beloved father.
US TV director Bruce Paltrow was battling throat cancer at the time; he died from the disease aged just 58 in 2002.
THE INTUITIVE FASTING ERA
The Marty Supreme star pictured in 2020, Gwyneth discovered ‘intuitive fasting’ and a keto diet during the post-pandemic period
In the post Covid era, the now 53-year-old star revealed she’d taken a new approach to her wellness, practising ‘intuitive fasting’ and eating keto foods.
The diet generally revolves around fasting cycles and eating keto foods – which is often high-fat, low carb and moderate protein – to ‘re-set’ the body.
Working with functional medicine practitioner Dr William Cole, Paltrow, who founded her wellness company GOOP in 2008, raved about his book on the topic, saying it was ‘designed to optimize our well-being and set us up to feel our best for all the other weeks to come’ – and not to ‘punish’ anyone.
THE PALEO – AND THREE-WEEK ELIMINATION -a ERA
Sporting the same design of bikini she’d worn in 2011, Gwyneth pictured hitting the beach in Mexico in 2023
Speaking last year, Paltrow said that ‘inflammation’ was one of the reasons that she and her husband, Brad Falchuk, 55, ‘became Paleo a few years ago’.
The idea of the Paleo diet, also known as the Paleolithic or caveman diet, is to eliminate modern foods and eat what our ancestors would have.
It advocates eating meat, vegetables, nuts and limited fruit, and excluding grains, legumes, dairy, salt, refined sugar and processed oils.
Gwyneth’s diet involved drinking coffee for breakfast, bone broth for lunch and vegetables for dinner.
Although its followers boast of benefits including weight loss, a smaller appetite, and more energy, there has been little research into its effects.
The star later also revealed that to try and beat inflammation, she also tried the three-week elimination diet, which eradicates any foods that have caused a negative physical reaction, such as bloating.
The time period is said by some to enable the body to be completely clear of the foods or allergens that have caused irritation.
THE CURRENT ‘BREAD IS ALLOWED’ ERA
Carbs are back in – at least as a treat – with Gwyneth and her husband Brad Falchuk…as the star revealed on her Goop podcast last year
Last year, Gwyneth revealed that she’d if not cracked entirely and reached for the biscuit tin she had softened her stance on carbs.
Revealing that, after years of sticking to regimes that largely banished carbohydrates, she had softened her approach to bread, pasta and potatoes, she said on an episode of her Goop podcast: ‘I’m getting back into eating sourdough bread, and some cheese – there, I said it. A little pasta after being strict with it for so long.’
She maintained that the mantra she largely followed now was ‘eating foods that are as whole and fresh as possible’, adding: ‘I don’t think there is any doctor or nutritionist that would refute that, it’s a good starting point.’
WHAT ABOUT EXERCISE? WORSHIPPING AT THE TEMPLE OF YOGA AND HIKES SIX-DAYS-A-WEEK…
Bikini ready: The actress has relied on regular low intensity exercise to keep her lean (Pictured in 2011 in Sardinia)
While Ms Paltrow fully subscribes to exercise – with work-outs pencilled in five days a week, she’s a devotee of yoga and Pilates, marrying mindfulness with achieving athleticism.
Elsewhere, the California hills she grew up close to are a favourite place for energetic hikes. And dance plays a part too, she once revealed that she starts every Wednesday with an energetic class with dance guru Tracy Anderson.
In 2024, she admitted that she’d turned down the dial on full-on cardio workouts, saying during a Q&A session on Instagram that she exercised almost every day…but didn’t overdo it.
She said: ‘I do something six days a week, but with a lot less intensity than I used to.
‘Even just going for an hour walk, or like now, I’m walking around our giant Goop office. I usually take multiple spins around to stretch my legs.’
