9 Strict Rules Gwyneth Paltrow Makes Her Two Kids Follow
She lays down the law!
Gwyneth Paltrow is a mother to two beautiful children that she had with Chris Martin — an 18-year-old daughter named Apple, and a 16-year-old son named Moses.
As her children grow into intelligent and thoughtful young adults, it’s important to make note of the way the founder of Goop raised them, making them follow a set of strict rules that molded them into the people they are today.
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Here are 9 strict rules that Gwyneth Paltrow made her two kids follow growing up.
1. No carbs or unhealthy goods.
Paltrow is well-known for following her own strict diet and made it a point for her children to follow a similar lifestyle to hers, ensuring that her children would lead happy and healthy lives.
After a health scare in 2011, Paltrow banned an assortment of foods and vowed to make her home a bread, pasta, and rice-free zone.
“Everyone in my house is intolerant of gluten, dairy, chicken's eggs, among many other surprising foods," she revealed in an interview with Hello Magazine.
Although she may have loosened up her grip on their diets over the years, she remains skeptical of the carbs.
2. Desserts before bed come with conditions.
"I tried to start them off with all of the right foods, but as they got older, the lure of Oreos and cotton candy outweighed the lure of carrots with hummus," she admits in a Goop journal entry.
So long as her children eat healthy when they’re at home, they’re allowed to eat whatever they want when they go out, including a little snack before bedtime.
“That's all a part of childhood and I love Oreos too, so I completely understand,” she wrote.
“I try to make sure that what is on their plate at home is nutritious and tasty, and then I loosen way up on the reigns when we are out."
3. No going away to summer camps.
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show, she revealed that she would never send her children away to summer camp.
“I like them,” she joked with the host, offering that as the reason why she wouldn’t send them to camp before elaborating further what she meant.
“Well my parents would send me for eight weeks to camp,” she revealed, “so if you want to know why I have so many issues, that might be it.”
Again, that was a joke. Paltrow admitted that she had a great time at camp, but seemed like she just wanted to be much more present in her children’s lives.
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4. TV will only be watched in French or Spanish.
In 2013, InStyle reported that Paltrow’s daughter was “cross” she “only let them watch TV in French or Spanish.”
Since her children already know how to speak English, she wants them to focus on being able to speak multiple languages.
Paltrow herself is capable of speaking Spanish fluently and attributes some of her children’s lingual knowledge to previous nannies that she and Martin had hired to take care of their children.
“She's French, so she's teaching them French, and their previous nanny was Spanish, so they're fluent in Spanish," she revealed to Harper's Bazaar.
In line with wanting her kids to experience multiple cultures, it’s important that they’re capable of speaking among those cultures as well.
5. Her children have limited social media use.
Being the child of a popular actress must be an entirely different lifestyle than being an average child, and as such, Paltrow has tried to limit the amount of exposure her children receive.
“I've really have tried not to just hand them things," the actress told Rob Lowe on his podcast in 2020, adding that Apple has a job in retail.
"I won't let them be public on any social media or anything like that,” she says. “I try to keep them out of the public eye as much as possible."
6. Her kids are in charge of their own futures.
Keeping her kids out of the limelight also means that she doesn’t prefer they go into similar professions as her and their father, but Paltrow also wants her kids to choose for themselves.
During her appearance on Red Table Talk in October 2021, she talked about how she raised her two children.
She elaborated on a quote from Banksy that read something like “A lot of parents will do anything for their kids except let them be themselves,” and she realized that she did a lot of the same.
"And I read it, and I was like, I had chills, and I thought, ‘God,’ there are aspects of me that think, ‘Well, you should do it this way because, like, that worked for me,’ or ‘Let’s avoid this," she continued.
The reality is that she wants them to choose their own paths and their own futures.
"I just tried to be really conscious of letting them emerge as who they are and being loving and supporting," she said.
7. The family has to stick together.
After Paltrow’s split with the Coldplay singer, the pair made it a point to co-parent as easily and as smoothly as possible to not “traumatize” their children.
“Chris and I committed to putting them first and that’s harder than it looks because some days you really don’t want to be with the person that you are getting divorced from,” she revealed during an appearance on the Drew Barrymore Show.
“But if you’re committed to having family dinner then you do it. You take a deep breath, and you look the person in the eye, and you remember your pact, and you smile, and you hug and you recommit to this new relationship that you are trying to foster.”
The family often stays together, goes out together, and even hangs out with their ex and their current partner as Martin is now dating Dakota Johnson and Paltrow is now married to Brad Falchuk.
8. Paltrow is not allowed to post pictures of Apple without her consent.
This last rule is one for Paltrow to follow but has to do with a very serious issue that she didn’t understand.
When Apple was just 14 years old, Paltrow posted an image of herself with her daughter as they had gone skiing together, Apple’s face mostly covered by the ski goggles she was wearing.
The mother wanted to show off the fun time she was having with her daughter, but Apple wasn’t very fond of it and commented on the post, creating all sorts of family drama that was talked about online.
“Mom we have discussed this. You may not post anything without my consent,” Apple commented, to which her mother replied, “You can’t even see your face!”
Apple deleted her comment, and the post still stands, but it seems like the rule has continued to stand since a year later, Paltrow shared a text conversation that she had with her daughter where she was sent “Apple approved” images.
Children are a handful, and raising them is more or less trial and error than any kind of parenting book could offer you.
Paltrow did the best with what she could, and she’s likely very proud of the people her children are growing into.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.