American film stars of a certain generation generally like to present themselves as squeaky-clean, apparently filling up their time getting deep into character, baking apple-pies and bonding with their progeny. Sometimes they go on crusades to save the world and feed the starving. Now, I previously had given the goody-goody crown to the macrobiotic-loving Gwyneth Paltrow, but her recent comments while visiting Britain may demand a re-think. She has revealed her naughty side by confessing not only to a love for cigarettes but an intention to take up the habit again when she hits seventy.
While smoking is not exactly as shocking as a nice drug habit or a liking for rubber, Gwyneth’s confession was nonetheless fairly surprising, as was her honesty about how much she loved cigarettes. In an interview with Elle Magazine, she said, “It’s such a beautiful thing...I would think with them, write with them. I just love them so much.” The star described how on the day she discovered she was pregnant with her first child Apple, she decided she had to give up, but first had to sit down and “smoke one final cigarette”.
Paltrow said that having experienced the death of her father, once she became a parent herself she couldn’t carry on smoking. However, she has promised herself that at seventy she can start again, saying excitedly that she can’t wait. Her comments are a rather touching expression of the difficulties smokers face, often not wanting to give up themselves but doing so for the sake of those they love. She also highlights the sense of loss when people quit, as they don’t just miss the nicotine but the impact cigarettes have on their sense of self. Kate Moss has previously said she is scared to quit because “it’s who I am...”
Call me evil, but there is something a little satisfying to think of celebrities going through the same quitting agony as the rest of us...