Gwyneth Paltrow is "ending the mommy wars." In a new journal entry on her lifestyle website Goop, the Oscar-winning actress is clearing up and defending comments she made last month about working women. At the time, the mother of two stirred up fresh outrage when she said that raising a family in Hollywood was harder than it is for moms with normal 9-5 jobs.
"A few weeks ago during an interview, I was asked why I have only worked on one film a year since having children. My answer was this: Film work takes one away from home and requires 12-14 hours a day, making it difficult to be the one to make the kids their lunch, drive them to school, and put them to bed," she wrote via Goop on Thursday, May 8. "So I have found it easier on my family life to make a film the exception, and my 9-5 job the rule."
"This somehow was taken to mean I had said a 9-5 job is easier, and a lot of heat was thrown my way, especially by other working mothers who somehow used my out-of-context quote as an opportunity to express feelings (perhaps projected) on the subject," the 41-year-old continued. "As the mommy wars rage on, I am constantly perplexed and amazed by how little slack we cut each other as women."
The Avengers actress, who shares daughter Apple, 9, and son Moses, 7, with estranged husband Chris Martin, then detailed how women tear down other women. "We see disapproval in the eyes of other mothers when we say how long we breastfed (Too long? Not long enough?), or whether we have decided to go back to work versus stay home," she added. "Is it not hard enough to attempt to raise children thoughtfully, while contributing something, or bringing home some (or more) of the bacon? Why do we feel so entitled to opine, often so negatively, on the choices of other women? Perhaps because there is so much pressure to do it all, and do it all well all at the same time (impossible)."
She concluded: "To every single mother out there, have a wonderful Mother's Day."
