London - Gwyneth Paltrow has said she struggles with guilt about being a working mother - but she’s also fiercely supportive of a mother’s right to make her own choices.
The actress says mothers should not “give a s***’ what other mothers think of them”
The 41-year-old American complained that some women were too quick to criticise working mothers and defended her choices when it came to her work-home balance.
She said it was unfair that some mothers brand others as terrible because they juggle a busy schedule on top of their child’s play dates.
The Shakespeare In Love star said all that mattered to her was what she thought of her own parenting and the time she devoted to her children.
Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin, 36, have two children, daughter Apple, nine, and son Moses, seven. In an interview last year she spoke about juggling work and her children, saying: “I feel guilty all the time. But they are my priority.”
Now she has told Red magazine: “It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. The work-life balance for a woman should be exactly what she feels is right for her.
“And nobody else can set her time schedule. And nobody else can tell her how many hours a week she needs to devote to this, that or the other. **** what anybody else says.
“That’s what we’ve got to let go of. That idea of, ‘Oh god, if I don’t show up to this concert, all the other moms are going to think I’m terrible”. Well, so ******* what. When I’m with my kids, I give them everything I have. And when I’m not, I give whatever I’m doing everything I have. And that’s my balance.
“So if anyone is going to ask my advice, I’d say, do what is right for you and don’t give a s*** what anyone else thinks.”
Last year she told Harpers Bazaar of her guilt at juggling work and children and said she now only accepted roles which would not take her too far from home. Some mothers said that suggested that women could have either a successful family life or a career but not both. - Daily Mail