People Magazine Crowns Gwyneth Paltrow "World’s Most Beautiful Woman"

Gwyneth Paltrow Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen April 24, 2013

Gwyneth Paltrow has had a busy month. After taking first place in Star Magazine’s annual “Most Hated Person In Hollywood” Top 20, the actress has been hailed as the “World’s Most Beautiful Woman” 2013 by People Magazine.

Paltrow told People she was stunned by their choice. When I first heard that I was gonna be on the cover of People’s ‘Most Beautiful’ issue, I honestly thought someone was playing a joke on me,” she said. “And I had to reread the email three times. I was like, ‘This can’t be true. I’ve developed dyslexia. I’m not reading right.’”

Paltrow, whose eating, cooking, and parenting habits have been the subject of recent controversy, published her second cookbook, “It’s All Good,” earlier this month, and will be appearing in the upcoming “Iron Man” film, the third installment of the blockbuster franchise.

But despite her success, the actress joked that her glamorous look is an illusion. “”Around the house, I’m in jeans and a T-shirt. I don’t really wear makeup,” she told People. “That’s what they’re used to,” she says. Her husband Chris Martin is a good sport: “He’ll make a joke about it. If I’ve gotten fully dressed up, he’ll be like, ‘Oh, wow! You’re Gwyneth Paltrow!’ Because he’s used to seeing me in like baggy shorts and frizzy hair.”

Other beautiful people included in this issue are Jennifer Lawrence, Kerry Washington, Amanda Seyfried, Jane Fonda and Pink.

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO