LOS ANGELES — Gwyneth Paltrow is famously devoted to fitness, but she admits her body recently took a giant step backwards while shooting one of her upcoming films in the south.
"I was so bad with the food and alcohol in Nashville," the actress tells Harper's Bazaar for its May issue about her two-month stint filming Love Don't Let Me Down. "If you saw me naked compared to what I looked like when I did Iron Man 2, when I was exercising every day—I'll get it back together, but I've never eaten so much fried food and white flour in my life, ever."
In the film, Paltrow portrays an alcoholic country singer, a role that allowed her to lean on her musician husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin.
"He was so helpful, so sweet and encouraging," she says. "I mean, it's embarrassing to be playing in front of your husband, especially when he's in one of the world's most successful bands."
"He is so great because he's so supportive of me as an artist," Paltrow adds of Martin, whom she married in 2003 and has two children with, daughter Apple, 6, and son Moses, 4.
Paltrow and her husband have long avoided being photographed together and she admits it's not always easy being chased around town.
"The thing about the paparazzi, I realized, is it's probably made me look like a really grumpy person," she explains. "Because when you get a magazine and you see someone with a scowl on her face, looking down, you're like, 'God, she looks like a bitch' or 'she looks like an unhappy old lady.' But when you're the person they're taking the picture of, it's like, 'You just followed me and made my kid cry and you're going to make money off it? You want me to look at you and smile? Are you out of your mind?'"
As much as she finds celebrity life challenging, Paltrow confesses she has it easy compared to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
"Every time, they're like, 'Their marriage is in crisis!' or whatever. And you're just like, 'Well, you always write that about me, and it's never right, so I can only assume it's not right,' " she says. "I feel bad for them. They have it worse than anybody on the planet. I mean, we get hounded too, but not like that."
While fame has its downside, Paltrow does admit there are times she's thankful Hollywood came calling. One such moment took place during the Hope for Haiti Now telethon, where she got a little starstruck sitting alongside Jay-Z and Beyoncé, among other musical icons.
"I really felt like I was 15," she says. "I wanted to take a picture. I didn't! But I was like, 'Oh, my God—Bono, the Edge. I can't believe I'm sitting here and no one's telling me to get out.' Like, I'm allowed to be here."