Gwyneth Paltrow Makes Rare Comment About Being a Stepmom to Brad Falchuk’s Daughter

Gwyneth Paltrow is opening up and giving some rare insight into her life as a stepmom to her husband Brad Falchuk’s daughter, Izzy.

“Happy Birthday my snizzle,” Paltrow, 52, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Saturday, September 6, in honor of her stepdaughter’s 21st birthday.

“You have taught me so much about love,” the actress and entrepreneur continued. “I am lucky to be your stepmom.”

Paltrow became stepmom to Izzy and her brother, Brody Falchuk, in September 2018, when she married their dad, Brad. The pair met in 2014, just months after Paltrow split from her then-husband Chris Martin after 10 years of marriage.

(Paltrow and Martin share two children, daughter Apple and son Moses. Falchuk, for his part, shares his children with ex-wife Suzanne Bulnik, who he was married to for nearly 20 years before their split in 2013.)

While Paltrow and Falchuk seemingly work hard to keep their blended family out of the public eye, the Goop founder has, on rare occasions, opened up about how difficult it can be to coparent. In August 2021, the actress told Gabrielle Union that while there have been “challenges” she has “learned so much” about herself “through the process” of coparenting.

“I have two beautiful stepchildren who are the same age as mine,” she said during an episode of “The Goop Podcast.” “When I became a stepmother, when I knew I was going to become a stepmother, I was like, ‘S***, I have no idea how to do this. There’s nothing to read. What do I do? Where do I step in? Where do I not? How do I do this?’”

Years earlier, in December 2023, Paltrow gave some additional insight into how difficult it can be to establish yourself as a stepmom in a blended family.

“You know, there’s no book on this, nobody tells us what to do,” Paltrow said via her Instagram Story at the time. “And in fact, all of the existing media around what a stepmother is casts us in this evil, villainous light. So it’s kind of like trying to avoid land mines. And then you’re going into a family with dynamics. And there’s all kinds of fear around loss and what does this person mean?”

She added at the time, “But for myself, the minute I decided, and fully embodied the idea that my step kids were my kids and I love them just as much and I gave them the same rules and boundaries, and just kind of whole-heartedy went for it, then the easier the whole thing got. And now it’s pretty great.”