Hollywood’s Ice Queen? New Biography Exposes Gwyneth Paltrow’s Savage Secrets

Although Gwyneth Paltrow now preaches peace and wellness, her past reveals a far more ruthless side.

A new unauthorized biography reveals a darker past filled with ambition, icy grudges, and savage nicknames aimed at Hollywood peers.

From her infamous fallout with Winona Ryder to uncomfortable film sets, the book uncovers previously unknown scandals about Paltrow.

Paltrow’s career has often looked like a fairytale. Born to Hollywood royalty actress Blythe Danner and director Bruce Paltrow and goddaughter to Steven Spielberg, she seemed destined for stardom.

However, as an excerpt from Amy Odell’s "Gwyneth: The Biography" obtained by the Daily Mail reveals, that golden image was built on icy ambition, burned bridges, and a shocking disregard for those in her way.

Long before founding Goop, Paltrow was a teen navigating elite prep schools and film sets. At Spence, a $68,000-a-year private school in New York, classmates said she was “polarizing,” with one recalling, “Everyone was terrified of her and in awe of her and wanted to be her.”

She was so adept at tearing others down that she once fat-shamed a classmate with a loaded question, “Isn’t it interesting how different people’s bodies are?”

Even in childhood, Odell writes that Paltrow knew how to use her charm and name to get what she wanted.

Spielberg gave her one of her first film roles in "Hook," and Michael Douglas helped get her into the University of California after she was rejected by Vassar. Yet, Paltrow dropped out within a year, chasing fame on her own terms.

One of the book’s most shocking revelations involves Paltrow’s former best friend, Winona Ryder.

The two actresses were inseparable in the late ’90s, even sharing a New York apartment. However, things quickly took a dark turn, leading Paltrow to give Ryder a brutal nickname.

According to the biography, their friendship began to unravel after Ryder had a fight with Matt Damon, her then-boyfriend and close friend of Paltrow’s boyfriend, Ben Affleck. Ryder allegedly claimed she had been robbed twice after leaving the apartment, but Paltrow wasn’t buying it.

“Damon consoled her but Gwyneth and Affleck believed Ryder fabricated the robberies as a ploy for attention (there’s no proof of this),” the book states. “Gwyneth was annoyed that Damon couldn't see it.”

From there, things only got worse. As Odell puts it, “Her friendship with Ryder would only deteriorate further, and Gwyneth gave her the nickname ‘V-gina Ryder.’”

Despite Damon being “kind to her friends,” Paltrow soured on him too. This led to the implosion of the Hollywood double-date power dynamic involving Affleck and Paltrow, as well as Damon and Ryder.

Another casualty of Gwyneth Paltrow’s social circles was English actress Minnie Driver.

Paltrow reportedly disliked Driver’s “faux British aristocracy,” despite organizing her 1997 birthday party during a photo shoot in Los Angeles. Behind Driver’s back, Gwyneth rolled her eyes and “mimed vomiting by putting her finger in her mouth,” the book claims.

She referred to Driver as an “air-kiss friend” and seemed irritated that others couldn’t see through what she saw as a fake persona.

Even Matt Damon’s past with Driver didn’t escape Paltrow’s scrutiny. When Driver claimed she learned Damon dumped her only after he announced he was single on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Paltrow disagreed.

“Gwyneth understandably wanted to take her boyfriend's friend's side but she also seemed to sour on Driver,” Odell writes.

Paltrow’s ability to cut people off coldly becomes a recurring theme in Odell’s work. “I can be mean. I can ice people out and I can definitely harbor revenge,” Paltrow once admitted herself per The Telegraph during an interview with British Vogue.

Odell didn't stop at Paltrow’s early career. The book also details how she micromanages her brand, tightly controls her image, and instills fear in staff.

While researching the biography, Odell claims that even former Goop employees were “more cautious than Anna Wintour’s ex-staffers.”

Some were “terrified” of talking on the record. Others feared retaliation, with one source revealing that Paltrow had “taken action” against people who crossed her.

Though Goop presents a curated image of healing crystals, organic skincare, and inner peace, its founder isn’t afraid to burn bridges or wield power with precision.

“She was more uncomfortable than she let on,” said a Miramax insider about working with her.

That discomfort, it seems, was often mutual.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s meteoric rise can’t be separated from her birthright.

The biography highlights her upbringing as one of Hollywood’s earliest “nepo babies.”

Odell writes that before age 10, the actress realized “the world was eager to give her what she wanted and she didn’t need anyone’s permission to get it.”

Her late father reportedly treated her like a “female Jesus Christ” and spoiled her to the point that she once joked she didn’t know how to turn right on an airplane, only left, toward First Class.

That entitled foundation, Odell argues, laid the groundwork for the cold confidence, public image mastery, and scorched-earth friendships that followed.