Gwyneth Paltrow opened up about the unusual motivation that helped her quit smoking. The Oscar-winning actor revealed that she hasn’t smoked in seven years after learning that even a single puff could void her life insurance policy linked to her marriage, a realization that pushed her to give up smoking for good.
Gwyneth Paltrow has a valid reason for not smoking
“Iron Man” star Gwyneth Paltrow recently shared a peculiar manner through which she motivated herself to quit smoking. Speaking to British Vogue, Paltrow shared that her last cigarette was on the night she married television writer and producer Brad Falchuk almost seven years ago.
“Yes… It was heaven,” she recalled with a laugh when asked if she remembered the last time she smoked. “Sadly, I remember it well. It was the night we got married.”
The actor explained that while updating her paperwork and signing up for life insurance before the wedding, she learned smoking could invalidate the policy entirely. “It said that if anything happened to me and they knew I had smoked a cigarette, it would nullify the whole thing,” she said.
Paltrow admitted that her perfectionist nature made the decision easier to stick to. “Because I’m such an Enneagram 1 — which is like, ‘integrity is everything’ — I never smoked again,” she explained. Paltrow also revealed a few other personal moments. This included the last time she got drunk on her 43rd birthday and indulged in junk food: “a chocolate-covered Oreo the night before.”
The actor has long been known for her strict wellness routines. Nevertheless, she said her approach to health has softened with age. Paltrow spoke of her experience when her father had cancer. At that time, she “went really strictly macrobiotic, hoping that, by proxy, I would somehow get him on a healthier eating plan or heal him.” However, that did not work. “But I was really, really strict on it for a while.”
Now, she says she focuses on balance instead of perfection. “I’m not so strict in my old age. I’m much easier on myself, I would say. I think it’s all about balance. Going too strongly in any direction is never good.”
