Gwyneth Paltrow: "I've Earned Everything Myself"

Updated on 12/31/2014 at 10:51 AM

Harper's Bazaar UK | Alexi Lubomirski

Gwyneth Paltrow graces the February cover of Harper's Bazaar UK, which hits newsstands on Friday. In her interview with the magazine, Gwyneth opens up about the "deep comfort" of life in LA, how she's been influenced by her father, and how women need to really think about why they criticize other women. The 42-year-old actress, who stars opposite Johnny Depp in Mortdecai, out next month, also talks about a woman's right to define herself, saying she's learned "the power of kindness and the importance of non-judgmental ways of looking at others." Highlights from Gwyneth's interview can be seen here, and the full feature appears in the February issue of Harper's Bazaar UK, which hits newsstands on Jan. 2 and is also available as a digital edition.

On her life in LA: "There's a deep comfort about it because it's so familiar. The other day I was lying on the grass and the kids were playing and I was looking at the blue sky and the palm trees — and there was something about the weather and the smell and I was, like, eight years old again. I had such a strong memory of being a kid here – it's a really nice place to be a little kid, and it's great to watch my children have that experience."
On how she's been influenced by her father: "My father was totally self-made. I grew up with the benefit of a great education and a beautiful house, but my father always said, 'The day you leave, that's it. You're not getting anything,' and he stuck to it. He was so hardcore about me making my own way. . . . I've earned everything myself, and I've never taken any money from anyone — my father really pounded that into me, so I got the message."
On women criticizing women: "Women really need to examine why they're so vitriolic to other women; why they want to twist words, why they want to read about someone else in a negative light and why that feels good to them. . . . But I also know a huge tribe of women who are loving and supportive of other women, in ways that are completely transformative."
On a woman's right to define herself as she chooses: "I think we are a generation of women who are different in a lot of respects, and some of us want to be ambitious, and for it not to be a dirty word. We want to be feminine and soft, we want to be maternal, we want to be sexual, we want to be explorers — and we can be a combination of all of these archetypes. You can be powerful, but you can also be vulnerable. . . . [I have] learnt the power of kindness and the importance of non-judgmental ways of looking at others."