Gwyneth Paltrow has spoken about the public pressure and personal feelings that accompanied the end of her engagement to Brad Pitt in the 1990s. On a recent episode of the "Friends Keep Secrets" podcast, Paltrow described her initial encounter with Pitt, whom she met on the set of the 1995 film "Seven."
"I remember seeing like ‘Thelma & Louise’ in the movie theater [and thinking] ‘that is the most handsome man,’" Paltrow said of Pitt's breakout role. "We had, like, kind of a love at first sight thing. It was pretty awesome. It was really fun."
Paltrow, who was 22 at the time and Pitt was 31, dated the actor from 1994 to 1997. She noted that it was her first public relationship, and while her own career was gaining momentum, she was also known as Pitt's girlfriend.
The couple became engaged in 1996 but called off the engagement a few months later. Paltrow attributed the breakup to her youth and their demanding careers that often took them to different parts of the world.
"I was just young," she stated. "We were working all over different parts of the world."
Paltrow also discussed the impact of intense media attention on the relationship's demise.
"I think that the press aspect and all that makes it feel larger than life in a way," she said. "You have to carry this faux cultural importance piece, and it’s like this extra burden and this extra almost shame that it didn’t work out, or whatever. It was hard."
Despite the difficulties, Paltrow expressed enduring affection for Pitt, describing him as a friend.
"He’s a great guy, and I love him to this day," she said. "He’s a friend."
Paltrow later married Coldplay singer Chris Martin in 2003, with whom she divorced in 2016, and then married Brad Falchuk in 2018. Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston from 2000 to 2005 and later to Angelina Jolie from 2014 to 2019.