Gwyneth Paltrow is a lot of things. She’s an Oscar winner, a bone broth lover, a mother to Apple and Moses Martin, an exonerated skier and the founder of Goop. But is the “Marty Supreme” actress also Jewish?
Let’s investigate!
If you’ve been following along with our previous investigations of this nature, you know that we’re looking to check at least one of two boxes. Does Gwyneth Paltrow identify as culturally or religiously Jewish? And/or, does Gwyneth Paltrow have Jewish ancestry? If the answer to either of those questions is a resounding yes, she’s a member of the tribe!
Let’s begin with Gwyneth’s family history. Gwyneth’s mother is actress Blythe Danner, who has mostly German ancestry. Her father, director Bruce Paltrow, came from an Ashkenazi Jewish family. On a 2011 episode of the genealogy show “Who Do You Think You Are?”, Gwyneth investigated her family’s claim that they were descendants of a long line of rabbis from the Russian Empire. (In a 2006 interview with the Guardian, Gwyneth said, “Like, 17 generations of rabbis — you see, I really am a Jewish princess!”)
In the episode, the actress learned that she was descended from Tzvi Hirsch Pelterowicz, a rabbi from Nowogród in Poland and a master of Kabbalah. She also learned she was descended from the Paltrowicz rabbinical family in Kraków, Poland.
So it’s pretty clear that yes, Gwyneth Paltrow has Jewish lineage. But how does she identify? Religiously? Culturally? Nothing at all? It seems to be a mixture of the former two. In a Hanukkah candlelighting video from 2024, Gwyneth told Israeli actress and activist Noa Tishby that she grew up in a interfaith family, celebrating both Jewish and Christian traditions and holidays.
“I always felt an incredible pull to my Jewish family. I still do,” she added. “I’m so close to everybody on that side of my family. We’re all kind of interwoven and so important to each other, and you know, just show up for each other again and again and again.”
Intriguingly, after Gwyneth appeared on “Who Do You Think You Are?” she announced that she was in the process of converting to Judaism. This is something patrilineal Jews sometimes choose to do to affirm their Jewishness, as halacha technically dictates that one’s mother must be Jewish in order to be considered Jewish. (If it were not obvious already, we here at Hey Alma affirm all Jews and their Jewishness!) She also announced her intention to raise her children Apple and Moses with Judaism.
While it’s unclear whether Gwyneth ever did go through a formal Jewish conversion process, it’s clear that Judaism is part of her life. In the same video with Noa Tishby, she speaks about celebrating Hanukkah with her children. She is also an adherent of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. In 2023, she told Bustle that she buys all Goop products, despite the fact that she could get them for free, due to the Kabbalistic concept of Bread of Shame.
Verdict: Yes, Gwyneth Paltrow is Jewish.
