The truth about Brad Pitt and Gwyneth’s Paltrow's breakup is out.

Gwyneth Paltrow has never been shy about living life on her own terms, but never before has her story been unravelled in quite such detail as it is in Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy Odell.

Released next month, this book lifts the veil on Paltrow's transformation from Hollywood leading lady to wellness empire powerhouse.

Drawing on more than 220 interviews and a trove of sources, Odell paints a fascinating portrait of Paltrow.

The biography explores Paltrow's famous lineage (nepo baby, confirmed), her early struggles, breakout acting roles, before she traded red carpets for the world of wellness and Goop.

Watch Gwyneth discuss a new Goop candle variety in 2020. Post continues after video.

It also sheds light on her high-profile relationships — including Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck and her marriage to Coldplay frontman, Chris Martin — along with friendships fractured by feuds.

Thankfully, People have just released some excerpts from the book, set to be released August 5. Glug it up folks, because Odell doesn't hold back.

These are the biggest revelations in Gwyneth: The Biography, as the book unpacks the woman behind the headlines.

Why Gwyneth Paltrow really broke up with Brad Pitt.

When it comes to Hollywood love stories, few captured the world's imagination quite like Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt.

They were THE couple of the '90s.

In the new book, Paltrow and her friends have offered some unfiltered insights about what really happened between her and Brad.

With four words, Paltrow's friend Kevyn Aucoin spoke volumes about the dynamics at play between the movie stars, warning the Oscar winner that Pitt was "threatened by her success."

Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt were a Hollywood dream. Image: Getty.

Paltrow also cites their clashing upbringings as a reason they couldn't make it work. "Brad and I came from completely different backgrounds," she confides in the biography. "Our emotional worlds just didn't always align, and that created a real tension between us."

Paltrow opened up about feeling confused during her time with Pitt — particularly when she found herself developing a crush on another actor.

"I was honest with Brad about how I felt," Paltrow admits. "During our relationship, I realised I had a crush on Hugh Grant. It wasn't about him, really — it was about me figuring out who I was."

They split after the release of Emma, with Paltrow addressing tabloid speculation about cheating during the filming of Sliding Doors.

"There were a lot of rumours, but it really just came down to me not being ready for something so serious. It wasn't about anyone else," she said.

"Looking back, I just wasn't as self-aware as I am now. I had to do a lot of growing up."

The truth behind Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck's split.

After Paltrow split from Pitt in 1997, she soon rebounded with another movie star: Ben Affleck, who she dated on-and-off for three years.

"Her friends thought Ben was more of an intellectual match. But he had demons," Odell wrote in the book. "Affleck was struggling with alcoholism and a gambling habit around the time he met Gwyneth."

Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck at the Dior fashion show. Image: Getty.

Despite the two sharing overpowering chemistry, Paltrow's friends didn't appreciate the way Affleck would treat her.

"Her friends had reservations about him because he didn't always reciprocate her affection. He at times seemed more interested in playing video games with the guys at his house than being with Gwyneth," the book excerpt continues, comparing Affleck and his friends to the famed HBO show Entourage.

"Her friends felt like he did not appreciate her. She would be making dinner, and he would want to go out with the guys," the book notes.

Speaking of chemistry, she wasn't shy about their sex life. In fact, Paltrow "spoke openly about how much she enjoyed their sex life," according to the People excerpt.

Their breakup wasn't pretty. "Their physical chemistry couldn't overcome his self-destructive impulses, which may have even included cheating on her," the author claimed.

Her marriage to Chris Martin and their 'conscious uncoupling'.

Amy Odell explores Paltrow's decades-long relationship with Chris Martin, which began in 2002, the same year she lost her father to cancer.

Beginning a new relationship during a time of grief offered both comfort and healing for Paltrow.

Odell notes that both Paltrow and Martin "aspired to some kind of soulful, intellectual seriousness at a moment when their work was pulling them toward mass appeal and triviality."

Paltrow's friends were sceptical of the romance from the beginning, with Odell writing that "her friends felt like something didn't quite click."

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin were famously private as a couple. Image: Getty.

Martin, who is described as an introvert, could be socially awkward. Yet Paltrow was "seduced by his persona," especially his confidence on stage when performing as Coldplay.

By 2014, Paltrow and Martin announced their now-famous "conscious uncoupling," a term that went viral and is still used to this day.

Odell explains that, privately, Paltrow had separated from Martin a year earlier and had worked through her feelings before it became public.

She decided to frame the split as inspirational, as a possible boost for her Goop brand. "While she privately struggled to generate optimism about the separation, she found a way to do it publicly, to turn this painful, confusing failure into a project that might inspire and illuminate — and maybe boost the brand," the book claimed.

The end of her friendship with Madonna.

Gwyneth: The Biography also recounts the dramatic end of Paltrow's long friendship with Madonna.

Reflecting on Madonna's challenging times and her role as a mentor, Paltrow spoke warmly of their friendship in 2006, according to Us Weekly.

"Everything I have gone through, she went through ten times worse and ten times longer. She gives me good advice about how to say no and take care of myself".

Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow together in 2007. Image: Getty.

However, Madonna's behaviour during an infamous group vacation dinner led to their split.

"Their relationship reached a breaking point when Madonna showed up to an island where Gwyneth and Martin were vacationing. Madonna seemed to know that Gwyneth would be there, which Gwyneth seemed to find strange, a friend remembered," the excerpt read.

"Madonna then insisted Gwyneth and [Chris] Martin join her for a big group dinner at a long table where Madonna went off on her daughter, Lourdes. Gwyneth and Martin were disgusted by the behaviour."

At the time, her then-husband, Chris Martin, reportedly said to her: "I can't be around this woman anymore. She's awful."

Paltrow herself is described as agreeing, with Odell writing that she found Madonna "toxic" and decided to end the friendship there and then.

The 'script incident' — and that fallout with Winona Ryder.

One of the most talked-about incidents explored in the book involves Paltrow's friendship fallout with Winona Ryder.

The book revisits the long-circulating rumour that Paltrow secured her Oscar-winning role in Shakespeare in Love by allegedly, umm … taking the script from Ryder's home. Nuts, right?

In the late '90s, Ryder and Paltrow were close friends until the "script incident." According to a persistent Hollywood legend, Paltrow visited Ryder's house, saw the Shakespeare in Love script on a coffee table, read it, and pursued the lead role, which Ryder had reportedly been eyeing.

Gwyneth Paltrow won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in the film Shakespeare in Love. Image: Getty.

Odell states that there's no evidence Ryder was ever formally offered the part. The biography notes that "after a story about Gwyneth allegedly stealing the script from Winona's coffee table reached the media, Gwyneth told friends that Ryder had started the rumour and insisted she'd received the script through her agent."

Paltrow herself has repeatedly denied the story, calling it an "urban myth", but the incident marked a bitter end to their friendship.

The second controversy discussed centres on Paltrow's controversial experience filming Shallow Hal, one of Hollywood's most hated films.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black attend the premiere of Shallow Hal. Image: Getty.

For her role as Rosemary, Paltrow wore an extensive prosthetic suit to appear as a fat woman.

Odell's biography outlines that Paltrow has referred to the experience as one of the lowest points in her career.

"Gwyneth told friends that she felt like the film could bring attention to what would later be widely termed fat-shaming," the book read.

Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy Odell will be released on August 5, 2025.

Feature image: Getty.