Paltrow Hits Out

Aussie jeers at speech 'over the top'
by Nui Te Koha

America's favourite girl next door, Gwyneth Paltrow, has attacked Australians who reportedly booed her emotional Oscars victory speech. "The Australians were just being Australians," movie star Paltrow said yesterday. "What can I say about the way some people behave? "I can understand why they may have been upset, but it's a little over the top to boo somebody. I don't think I deserved that." Her comments are the first time the Hollywood star has acknowledged the hostile reaction from Australia to her Academy Award win for best actress last March.

Paltrow, nominated for her role in "Shakespeare in Love", won in an all-star field that included Golden Globe winner and Oscar favourite Australian Cate Blanchett.

After her win, many American newspapers reported on an "unsporting" response from Australians who, while watching the awards ceremony in "bars across the nation....booed and jeered" at Paltrow's teary acceptance speech.

In an emotional ramble of smiles and sobbing, Paltrow blubbered thanks to her parents, actor Blythe Danner and producer Bruce Paltrow and to her dying grandfather, Buster. "I was unaware that a nation was booing me," Paltrow said. "but it doesn't surprise me. You guys were being Australians. You all wanted Cate to win." Did Paltrow feel our nation's pain? "No," she laughed. "I was so happy to win. I wasn't worried what people thought. Not at the moment they read my name out. "All I could think of was keeping it together onstage."

Paltrow, who professes a friendship and respect for Blanchett, said the Australian actor would win an Oscar. "It was not her time to win, it was my time. But Cate will win an Oscar. She is an incredible actress."

Blanchett stars opposite Paltrow and another young Oscar winner, Matt Damon, in an upcoming film, "The Talented Mr. Ripley". She dismissed reports of a rivalry between her and Paltrow. "It's something the media cooks up to make things more interesting," Blanchett said yesterday. "I can't be friends with Gwyneth. That's not juicy enough. It's better copy that we're bitter enemies. "The truth is that we're good friends and we get on well. There is no rivalry. Even on Oscars night. I was just happy to be there."

Paltrow said the Oscar win over Blanchett came at a price. She is constantly stalked by the media, her love life is under scrutiny, and she often refers to Gwyneth Paltrow in the third person "because I'm so sick of her."

Herald Sun, Wednesday, December 15th, 1999.

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