Gwyneth Paltrow’s Current Husband Reminds Her of Her Dad Bruce Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow was extremely close to her father Bruce Paltrow. Although losing him in 2002 hurt the Seven actor deeply, she recognizes a lot of her father in her current life partner.
How Gwyneth Paltrow’s husband channels the late Bruce Paltrow
Gwyneth felt like she lucked out with her current partner Brad Falchuk in a meaningful way. The pair were both coming off failed relationships when they began dating in 2014. Gwyneth had just separated from her longtime husband Chris Martin a year prior. Meanwhile, Falchuk divorced his wife of 10 years, Suzanne Bukinik, around the same time. Gwyneth and Falchuk would eventually tie the knot in 2018, with the couple still going strong to this day.
According to Gwyneth, there were a lot of reasons to be smitten by her new husband.
“I just feel so grateful. The quality of our communication and our friendship; it’s really thrilling and I think wonderful for people who had a marriage or relationship that didn’t work out to understand that it’s really possible to meet your dream man halfway through your life,” Gwyneth said in an interview with Today.
Falchuk also wowed Gwyneth due to his uncanny similarities to her late father Bruce. Bruce was a prolific television and film director in his time. Similarly, Falchuk has made a name for himself directing and writing for contemporary shows like Glee and American Horror Story. Apart from that, Bruce and Falchuk have similar personalities as well.
“He has things that were reminiscent of my dad. It’s like blue-eyed, Jewish, TV writer, with a heart of gold and a great sense of humor,” Gwyneth said in an interview with People. “I finally chose my dad.”
How Gwyneth Paltrow honored Bruce Paltrow with her marriage to Brad Falchuk
Gwyneth further explored her feelings toward her father’s death on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast. She discussed how she wished Bruce was still here to see his daughter with a family of her own. She has two kids, Apple and Moses Martin, who she shares with her ex-husband, Chris Martin. During her session with Shepard, she confided about how she instinctively wants to reach out to her dad about her kids.
“He was such an intentional father, and he was so observant and so deeply supportive and set us up to win all the time. And now I have a 14-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son and I’m like, ‘F***, I need to call my dad. I need to talk to my dad,’” she said.
Gwyneth lamented over the reality that her dad isn’t available to confide in any more. However, her father still influences her life in positive ways. For instance, she found a way to have Bruce accompany her when she wed Falchuk.
“For years, I would go into kind of the deepest depression of all time around my birthday and then I thought, ‘I’ve got to reframe this somehow. My father would not want this for me,’ ” Gwyneth said. “My birthday is September 27. So this past September, I got married on the 29th of September. His ashes are buried under this beautiful tree at my house and we got married there — right near my dad… kind of on my dad.”
Gwyneth Paltrow used to blame herself for her father’s death
Bruce died from complications from oral cancer in 2002 at 58 years old. He initially beat his cancer diagnosis two years earlier. At the time, he was instructed to lead a better lifestyle to help reduce the chances of his cancer returning. Gwyneth believed that the products her father consumed played a role in him getting cancer the first time.
“I really believe that what you eat has a huge effect on your health. My father smoked for a long time. He had a big vodka every day when he got home from work,” she once told Evening Standard (via New York Post).
Bruce backslid into his old habits, which Gwyneth partially blamed herself for allowing.
“I wasn’t adamant enough in cleaning up his diet and getting rid of the cancer,” she said. “Now I really feel I could have extended his quality of life. But I wasn’t as strong as I should have been.”
However, her father’s death taught Gwyneth to take her health and lifestyle very seriously to avoid a similar fate.
