Why Gwyneth’s finding life with Brad tough
Self-isolation leaves little space for conscious uncoupling
‘Brad’s slowly driving her up the wall’
They say that love can go two ways during lockdown: it can make you closer than ever (and lead to that baby boom everyone is foretelling), or it can have you Facetiming your divorce lawyer. Let’s hope, for Gwyneth Paltrow’s sake, there’s a middle path. While the actress has been vocal on social media about the need to stay indoors and selfisolate as much as humanly possible, insiders tell us that she’s struggling with the confinement – especially now that her husband Brad Falchuk is never not there.
Most couples can probably relate, but Gwyneth and Brad only moved in together last summer, and have both spoken about how much they value their personal space. Sadly, it seems, even sprawling Hollywood homes aren’t big enough to keep the mystery alive in a relationship. “Like many people, Gwyn and Brad are just not used to spending this much time together,” says an insider close to the actress. She married Brad in September 2018, and they kept their home lives separate for a year, as they each spent time with their respective children. “Gwyn is used to having an entire house to herself, and she’s particular about everything – from the décor to what’s in the fridge – so Brad’s slowly driving her up the wall. They’re both used to being immersed in their work – they actually used to struggle to find the time to see each other, so this is a real change for them. Obviously, they love each other, but it is really hard at times.”
Earlier this year, Gwyneth, 47, said in an interview that she and Brad, 49, valued their time apart as much as their time together, explaining, “I think it certainly helps with preserving mystery and also preserving the idea that this person has their own life, so this is something I’m trying to remain aware of now as we merge together.” But unfortunately for the actress, any hope of solitude seems to have been dashed as we were all told to stop what we were doing and stay inside.
However, Gwyn – who famously played patient zero in the eerily prophetic film Contagion – has been doing what she can to keep busy… mainly by lecturing us all on how to do self-isolation properly. Last week, she encouraged her Instagram followers to “do something you’ve always wanted to do – write a book, learn an instrument or a language, or learn to code”.
Here’s hoping she’s following her own advice and learning another language – just in case she needs to tell Brad to F-off without ruining their relationship. ■