
Behind the headlines
Her best role in years
What’s usually so exciting about seeing celebrities in court, says Naomi Fry in The New Yorker, is the promise of relatability. Their “perfectly made-up” faces are covered, for once, with “mascara tear streaks”, proving famous people can be brought low just like the rest of us. But Gwyneth Paltrow’s trial this week – in which she was awarded $1 in damages after being found not liable for a ski crash in 2016 – was gripping for precisely the opposite reason. The Oscar-winner “unabashedly leaned into every stereotype” about herself, delivering lines that could have been pulled straight from The White Lotus. Everything from her “well-cut garments by leading designers” to her bottled sparkling water screamed Hollywood opulence. At a time when most celebs are obsessed with appearing “of-the-people”, there’s something refreshing about Paltrow unapologetically flaunting her status. Her performance on the stand was her “best role in years”.