Gwyneth Paltrow reflects on beating godfather Steven Spielberg at the Oscars two decades ago

Gwyneth Paltrow experienced a huge surge in her career after winning the Oscar for best actress in 1999.

Bagging the award for Shakespeare in Love (1998), the Goop founder also got to enjoy the film itself winning best picture, beating that year’s favourite, Saving Private Ryan.

The war film was directed by Steven Spielberg, Paltrow’s godfather, and its loss over the Shakespeare-based rom-com proved to be a controversial moment in the history of Academy Awards.

During a recent chat with The Awardist podcast, the actress and entrepreneur opened up about what she thinks of her film’s victory over Spielberg’s.

“Well, it was so funny because Steven won for director and I won [Best Actress]. And Steven has been at this rodeo for a very long time, and even 25 years ago had already been at the rodeo a very long time,” she began.

Further citing another controversial Oscars moment, when La La Land was erroneously announced as the best picture winner over Moonlight, she added, “So it’s like to say, I think awards are designed, I think, yes, to acknowledge people’s amazing achievements, but it’s also a monetization tool for a broader industry.”

“I think there’s always discourse around what people like and don’t like because art is subjective. That’s the point of it,” the Oscar-winning actress continued. “The point of art is to stir emotion and to help you process through emotion and to help you take something abstract and put it into a reference that you understand.”

Gwyneth Paltrow currently stars in Marty Supreme, released on December 25, with Timothée Chalamet leading the project also favourite for the ongoing awards season.