Gwyneth Paltrow Opens Up About Her Relationship With Ben Affleck

Gwyneth Paltrow Ben Affleck Bounce

During a recent appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Gwyneth Paltrow open up about her past. While the Academy Award-winning actress is rarely afraid to discuss her personal life, , Paltrow was fairly candid about her famous relationship with Ben Affleck during her recent trip to the Sirius XM station. The couple shared the screen with in 1998's Shakespeare in Love and 2000's Bounce, as their relationship grew. The celebrity couple were together for three years, 1997-2000, and the movie star admits that dating the actor-turned-director was "very much a lesson" for her, particularly at a pivotal moment in her developing career. Here's what she told Howard Stern about her time with Ben Affleck.

It's interesting, I think there's certain boyfriends where you are trying to work stuff out, right? Like, you're trying to heal certain stuff from your childhood and he was very much a lesson in that way. I'm not sure exactly what I was trying to heal in that instance, but it was ...he was, ya know, it was specific.

Ben Affleck came into the discussion when the radio host asked Gwyneth Paltrow if she was ever in love with Ben Affleck. It's not the first time Stern has fielded questions from Paltrow about the fellow Oscar winner. In 2015 Paltrow also found herself addressing her former A-list fling. She said at the time that she was "okay with the two of us not being together," even though Paltrow said her parents really appreciated Ben Affleck for his talent and intelligence, and she admitted that Affleck was "not in a good place in his life to have a girlfriend." Evidently, there was trouble in Affleck's life at the time, and while Paltrow tried to help him, she could only do so much. Gwyneth doesn't host regrets about moving on.

During this recent appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Gwyneth Paltrow also discussed another moment early in her career when her other famous ex-boyfriend, Brad Pitt, threatened Harvey Weinstein following a hotel incident. As she discussed on the Sirius XM program, Weinstein apparently made a pass on her and Pitt claimed he would "kill him" if he ever did that again. As Paltrow notes, Pitt leveraged his fame and power when she did have either yet, and she's grateful for Pitt for defending her during that difficult moment. Pitt and Paltrow dated from 1994 to 1997. When her relationship to her fellow Se7en star ended, she started dating Ben Affleck soon after.

These days, while Gwyneth Paltrow was recently seen in Avengers: Infinity War, the actress is spending a good amount of time on her lifestyle brand, Goop. Recently, on the first episode of The Goop Podcast, Gwyneth Paltrow talked to Oprah Winfrey, where they discussed the relationship advice the talk show mogul received from acclaimed writer Maya Angelou.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.