Gwyneth Paltrow had a "really hard time" during her split from Brad Pitt.
Gwyneth Paltrow
The 46-year-old actress romanced the 'Fight Club' star from 1994 to 1997 and the pair even got engaged before calling it quits, and Gwyneth has said she felt to "terrible" about the break-up that she very nearly turned down the chance to star in 'Shakespeare in Love'.
Speaking to Variety, she said: "I was in the middle of a terrible breakup and the idea of going to England and being far from home just seemed ... I didn't even read it. I was just like, 'I can't read anything right now. I'm having a really hard time.'"
Gwyneth eventually accepted the role and ended up winning a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in 1999.
Meanwhile, despite their tough split, the 'Iron Man' actress previously praised Brad for defending her after she confided in him when Harvey Weinstein allegedly tried to lure her into his hotel room and asked for a massage.
Gwyneth described Brad, 54, as "the best" for not being afraid to use his "fame and power" to warn the producer away from her when he approached Weinstein on the opening night of a Broadway production of 'Hamlet'.
She said: "He told me exactly what he said. He said, 'If you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I'll kill you.' It was great.
"It was the equivalent of throwing him against the wall, energetically.
"He leveraged his fame and power to protect me at a time when I didn't have fame or power yet ... he's the best. I love him for this."
The Goop founder - who is now married to producer Brad Falchuk and has children Apple, 14, and Moses, 12, with ex-husband Chris Martin - previously claimed Weinstein warned her not to tell anyone what had happened between them.
She said: "I thought he was going to fire me. It was brutal ... I was expected to keep the secret."
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