Gwyneth Paltrow at Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women Summit in New York
GWYNETH'S TURN
It took a few weeks, but Gwyneth Paltrow has responded to being dissed by Martha Stewart.
E! News reports that the actress finally addressed the homemaker diva's very public dig at her during her onstage interview at Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit in New York on Tuesday evening.
As most of the world knows, Stewart directed some fairly harsh words towards Paltrow and fellow actress-lifestyle aspirant Blake Lively in Net-a-Porter's Porter magazine last month.
Specifically, Stewart was critical of Paltrow's website, Goop, which launched in 2008 and dispenses lifestyle advice, and her seeming efforts to become the next Martha.
Said Stewart of Paltrow: "She just needs to be quiet – she's a movie star. If she were confident in her acting, she wouldn't be trying to be Martha Stewart."
But as every good Oscar-winner knows, the best defence is a good offence, aided and abetted by a winsome sense of humour.
If anything, Paltrow took advantage of the situation – and her ignominious reputation as "Most Hated Celebrity" – by pretending to be aghast at Stewart's critique.
"No one has ever said anything bad about me before, so I'm shocked and devastated," said a laughing Paltrow. "I'll try to recover."
Turning slightly more serious, Paltrow said, "If I'm really honest, I'm so psyched that she sees us as competition. I really am."
You can watch the full video of Paltrow's interview here.
But of course it's possible Paltrow knows that doing well is still the best revenge – and perhaps doubly so when you poach the competition's troops.
Earlier this week, Paltrow announced that her Goop site had hired a brand-new CEO to replace Seb Bishop, who resigned last April in the wake of Paltrow's bizarre "conscious uncoupling" statement informing the world she was splitting with husband Chris Martin.
The new Goop CEO: Lisa Gersh, who until recently held the post of president and CEO at Martha Stewart Living.
And Gersh even slyly referenced her former boss in the statement accompanying the announcement when she said, "It's rare to work with such an inspired founder and a digitally native company"
Don't fret, Martha. You'll always have your beloved drones to keep you company.
TAKE TWO
ABC is banking that the second time will be the charm for a TV version of Uncle Buck. The Disney-owned network will mount a small-screen version of the 1989 comedy starring the late John Candy as an irascible bachelor forced to take care of his brother's two young children. CBS's attempt to turn Uncle Buck into a 1990 sitcom starring Kevin Meaney lasted one low-rated season. ABC's intention to revisit the concept comes with the recent news of planned TV reboots of the films Problem Child, Real Genius and Big.
Source: Variety
SMALL SCREEN
Scarlett Johansson will star in a limited TV series based on the works of Edith Wharton. The Avengers star will produce and take the lead role in the eight-episode series The Custom of the Country, which will be based on Wharton's 1913 novel, and will likely air on premium cable in the U.S. Set in turn-of-the-century New York, the project will cast Johansson into the role of Undine Spragg, an ambitious Midwestern woman attempting to climb her way up in society. The series will be written for television by noted British playwright Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons).
Source: Deadline
FILLING IN
If you thought something was different on Tuesday night's episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, it's likely because the host was missing. For the first time in several years, Stewart took a sick day and was replaced on the host desk by Canadian-born Jason Jones, one of The Daily Show's regular correspondents. Jones acquitted himself admirably in his replacement duties, even when his wife, fellow Canadian and Daily Show regular Samantha Bee, attempted to squeeze herself into the frame as co-host.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
ICKY HIT
Jimmy Fallon's dream to be a pop star could be on the verge of becoming reality. Earlier this week on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the host teamed with former Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am for a segment in the show's recurring "Ew!" skits. On this occasion, Fallon and will.i.am went drag to transform into BFFs Sara and mir.i.am and perform a catchy rap about things that make them say, "Ew!" (including FaceTime and bread bowls). Within 24 hours, the music video had generated more than 2.5 million views on YouTube and was in second place on the Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 chart (right behind the new Ed Sheeran single Thinking Out Loud).
Source: Billboard
SMALL COMFORT
A new study has revealed there's no real comfort supplied by comfort food. Researchers at the University of Minnesota recently conducted an experiment in which they induced bad moods in 100 participants by making them watch clips from sad movies. Post-screening, half the volunteers were fed their favourite comfort food, while the other half consumed food they enjoyed, but wouldn't necessarily call comfort food. After the meals, researchers asked the group how they felt and were amazed when all the participants said they felt better. And the same results were obtained in a separate experiment when half the volunteers ate comfort food, while the other half ate nothing. "This is not what we expected," said study author Traci Mann. "We kept repeating the study, because we didn't believe it."
Source: NPR