Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't pay attention to her own press—and it's a good thing, too. While People dubbed her the World's Most Beautiful Woman in April, just one month later, Star named her the Most Hated Celebrity in Hollywood. According to the star, she's not fazed by what's written about her.
Covering the December issue of Red, the 41-year-old actress insists she doesn't care that her personality is polarizing. "This is the thing, it's like the older I get, I realize it doesn't matter what people who don't know you think. It doesn't matter. You're wasting your energy," Paltrow tells the British magazine. "It's like, if your partner comes to you—or your best friend—and says, 'Listen, I want to talk about something you did that hurt me, or I think you could improve,' sit down and listen to what they have to say. But some friend of so-and-sos—it's like, who gives a s--t?"
"I have it on a very large, global scale," the Academy Award winner adds. "I don't have it in the village gossip way; but it's the same thing. That's why I really don't read anything. Because if it's important, it filters down to me."
Paltrow wishes women would be more supportive than critical of each other. In fact, the Iron Man 3 star gets "cross" when women are pitted against one another.
"I personally think that the work/life balance for a woman should be exactly what she feels is right for her. And nobody else can set her time schedule. And nobody else can tell her how many hours a week she needs to devote to this, that or the other," she says. "F--k what anybody else says. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. That's what we've got to let go of. That idea of ‘Oh god, if I don't show up to this concert, all the other moms are going to think I'm terrible.' Well, so f--king what?"
"When I'm with my kids [Apple Martin, 9, and Moses Martin, 7], I give them everything I have. And when I'm not, I give whatever I'm doing everything I have. And that's my work/life balance," she says. "I've made it work for me, but it doesn't matter what my specific thing is. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. It matters what you think of yourself. And what your children think. So if anyone is going to ask my advice, I'd say, do what is right for you and don't give a s--t what anyone else thinks."
Chris Martin's wife of nearly 10 years recently relocated to Los Angeles after years of living in London. But Paltrow tells the magazine she's already planning to move back to Europe in the next few years.
"I don't want [my kids] to be teenagers in L.A. No way. I'm looking at this like two years, three years tops, then we will go back. It's part of my parenting philosophy that children should get the opportunity to reinvent themselves at a few points in their childhood to see where their strengths and weaknesses lie and to experience living in different cultures," she reasons. "It's an experiment. We'll see."
While Paltrow calls London her "favorite city in the world," she does like living near her immediate family and childhood friends in L.A. "I've got a real posse," the movie star says. "I don't know, there was something about turning 40 and feeling like I needed to go home for a year or so."
Regardless of where her family resides, one thing is certain: Paltrow is done having children.
"I'm feeling at such a comfortable point in my life right now, like I'm starting another chapter," she says. "Like today, I was sitting in the bathroom with Moses and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I'm so glad he can wipe his own ass.' I'm so glad I don't have to do that any more. I don't know if I could go all the way back."