What you need to know
Gwyneth Paltrow offers her best advice for dealing with anxiety.
The actress, who has previously been candid about her mental health, opened up about her approach to managing anxiety while answering fan questions during an Ask Me Anything on Instagram Stories on Wednesday, January 21st.
After answering questions about her training regimen, acting and her fondest memory of fashion designer Valentino Garavani, who died on January 19 at the age of 93 at his home in Rome, Paltrow answered a fan’s question: “How do you deal with anxiety?”
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Gwyneth Paltrow/Instagram
The Goop founder said, “I can’t completely avoid anxiety, but I try to ease it by remembering what I’m grateful for, taking deep breaths, going for walks, shouting into the bushes (which helps), and being kind to myself.”
When asked how she avoids “hyperfunction and burnout,” she spoke again about her mental health.
“I’ve never avoided either,” she said. “I’m overfunctioning and getting burnt out, but I’ve been trying to improve on that a little bit this year and really prioritizing sleep and boundaries between work and non-work, but I have some work to do.”
Gwyneth Paltrow/Instagram
Paltrow said on a November 2025 episode of the podcast The Goop that she believes she’s “a little bit ADD, and I really get pulled in so many different directions. I try not to do that as much and try to feel more grounded throughout the day.”
The Marty Supreme star said he believes being in the spotlight is having an effect on his nervous system, noting that receiving nasty emails at work can be “like a slap in the face”.
“I’ve lived a very intense life in public for a really long time,” Paltrow said. “So every time I’m at the mercy of people’s opinions and all the energy behind those opinions, that’s what I think. Like most people, I’m very sensitive. So I feel that and it wears down my nervous system.”
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“I think it also has to do with the hormones in my life. For the first time in my life, I’m feeling really anxious, but that’s just a symptom of hormonal changes,” Paltrow continued. “I think it’s an estrogen dominance issue. It makes you really anxious… I mean, part of it is physiological, part of it is psychological, part of it is emotional, and part of it is public life.”
Paltrow said she is working on her mental health with the help of therapists, one of whom is an expert on the nervous system.
She also said she finds “healing from my family, my children, and my husband.”
If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line (741-741). Connect with a certified crisis counselor.
