A Day in the Life of Gwyneth Paltrow Reveals the Plight of the Working Mother
Unsurprisingly, as she is the world's most perfect person, Gwyneth Paltrow really gets how hard it is to be a working parent. Luckily she's decided to document a typical mothering day in her newsletter Goop, for our benefit.
Behold some selections from Gwyneth's oh-so-hard day of going to the gym, singing a country song, and doing a phone interview.
I went up to arouse the little man from slumber and he quite happily got up and crawled into my arms. We got downstairs and I made him a quick breakfast of eggs and toast followed by a spoonful of lemon flavored flax oil that I try to remember to give them both every morning.
On a less manic day, this would be my couple of hours in the office to work on GOOP, come up with ideas, write/edit and go over scheduling, travel, whatever else I have going but I have no time so I just pop the old cabeza in to see if there are any deadlines or fires that need putting out. When I am given the all clear I rush out the door, headed to rehearse with a band to prepare for the Country Music Awards which are just a week away. I've never performed live before so I'm preparing for this as if it were the Superbowl, which, in it's own way, it is. I've been having voice lessons with my teacher, Carrie Grant, every day and rehearsing with an amazing London-based band. This will be my fourth and shortest rehearsal of the week, as the day is so full, but I am excited to get in there and see everyone. Had to do my vocal exercises/warmups in the car, sooo not a good look. Fellow drivers looked on a bit bewildered. Rehearsed with the band from 11:30 to 12:30 and then scooted back out to the car and had kind of a big interview on the phone while trying to subtly check/reply to well-overdue email. Got home and had a fitting with super stylist Elizabeth Saltzman for the upcoming Nashville trip (what to wear, what to wear?) from 1-2. This is my 4th out of 5 fittings for this trip. We tried on a myriad of dresses and outfits, and I had b.o. by the end of it from wrestling with all of those dresses. I have six looks I need to choose for the trip; there's the radio press conference upon arrival, the red carpet for the Country Strong premier, press interviews, a Sony Music VIP dinner, the red carpet for the CMA's and the outfit for my performance! We manage to finalize all of the looks for the (very nerve wracking) trip. At 2 pm I head into my office with a nice cup of tea for two hours of phone interviews. I am doing lots of these this week, but today's session is only two hours. I call country radio station after country radio station speaking to some of the nicest and friendliest DJ's on the planet. Thursday is the one day of the week that I do not pick my kids up after school. They go straight to an activity and I am able to really maximize work stuff. I always feel a bit guilty (obviously) about it, but it means I can focus fully on them when they get home instead of trying to do two things at once.
The kids indulge in a super sugary cupcake before bed but I don't feel too bad because they had a brown rice stir fry for dinner with baked sweet potato on the side. It's all about balance! My night to lay with Mosey so I tuck Apple in, say a prayer and go into Mosey's room for a story, foot massage and quiet time. As soon as all was quiet, I rushed downstairs to grab a blazer and some blush and flung myself in the car for girls night. Lovely dinner and great conversation. 11:29 pm now, exhausted and ready to do it all again tomorrow!
For a full, point-by-point dissection of this epic missive, consult Videogum.
So that's great, right? Lots of insight into how to manage the busy mommy dance. In keeping with the idea of women sharing their mommy struggles with us, here is another working mom's day diary. Notice the similarities to Gwyneth!
Woke up and couldn't get Randy out of bed even though his principal said if he's late again he'll get suspended and I can't have him sitting around the house all day while no one else is around, mostly because I'm worried about him having that Dwayne kid who dropped out of school over and doing whatever it is that's always got Dwayne walking around the neighborhood like a zombie. Luckily, I guess, they cut back my hours at Bob Evans so I guess I can be around a little more. The car was still making that noise but I can't even think about taking it in to the shop until the 15th, though most of that check is going to medicine and stuff for my daughter's asthma. Anyway, Randy finally got up and he had a Pop Tart or something and I told him to get off to school and my daughter Amy got picked up by her friend Kaylee's dad who's kinda weird but the school's in the total opposite direction of the America's Best Value Inn, where I work mornings cleaning rooms, so Kaylee's dad is the best way for Amy to get to school. So I get in the car and — you know what? I don't have time to write this all down. I'm busy, is what I'm saying. It's hard. I'm no movie star, y'know? I'm just me.
[Photo via Getty Images]