This is an archived blog from when I ran Conscious Public Relations Inc. from 2008-2018. Excuse the potential outdated-ness!
Have you ever met a celebrity and didn’t know how to act? I remember when I used to do background work and when I was on the set of The Day The Earth Stood Still, Keanu Reeves walked right by me from the green room. I was stunned as I looked at him and if he had happened to say anything to me (which he wouldn’t in that situation) I would have been frozen.
Through my work with the local food festivals in town I have had to work with chefs that some might call “celebrities,” and in that situation I have my work face on, so it has helped me to see chefs in a completely different way: a human way. Of course, I can’t act like they’re my best friends. But I can now see how they aren’t the gods we sometimes make them out to be in our minds. They have needs just like us. They eat, breathe, sleep, and have families. They are human.
I read through ELLE Canada‘s September issue today, and Kathryn Hudson‘s CELEBRITY column painted a very different portrait that I expected of 39 year-old actress and mom, Gwyneth Paltrow. Of course there were mentions of her well known accolades, but the interview was framed in terms of lessons – seven of them to be exact. Paltrow’s answers surprised me. Sure, she’s media trained and knows how to say what will make her look good and approachable. But her words could really fill a quote book. And she’s an active mom, and there is something inherently pure when the more active celebrity moms speak, I think. The mom and the woman just comes out in them.
My favourite quote: “We just need to forgive ourselves of any garbage in our past…We get hurt along the way, and we acquire these misunderstandings about ourselves that we’re not good enough people. (KH: Very Oprah.) I think that if we can let go of those misunderstandings and know that – as cheesy as it sounds – we’re all perfect souls, then that’s how you get confidence. Even if it’s something that someone would judge you for, say ‘I did my best in that moment and I’m going to let go of the guilt and the shame.’ I think that’s when you start to feel beautiful: when you stop judging yourself.“
Amen, Gwyneth. Amen.
On another note, do you read Gwyneth’s site goop.com? If so, does it make her seem a bit more human to you?
