Gwyneth Paltrow On Growing Up In Santa Monica, Interracial Relationships & The Shift Of Beauty (VIDEO)
Long before captivating moviegoers across the globe with her award-winning acting skills, Gwyneth Paltrow was front and center of a pivotal cultural shift.
While growing up in Santa Monica, California, her father, Bruce Paltrow, created and wrote for the late '70s CBS drama "The White Shadow," which examined racial stereotypes in America and exposed the actress to many seminal television "Tanning" moments. As she explains in HuffPost Black Voices latest episode of "The Tanning Effect," Paltrow witnessed her father's impact at the time on American society.
"I think the most 'Tanning' that I saw during that phase of my life was my dad, [who] created, wrote and directed a TV show called 'The White Shadow,' about a white basketball coach teaching basketball in an inner-city school," she explained. "And that show that he did -- I mean, obviously we were there a lot, but it was interesting to see that culturally start to permeate. And he did a lot of 'firsts' on that show. He had the first interracial kiss ever. It was a good show." (Editor's Note: As a point of fact, the first televised interracial kiss was between William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols on "Star Trek" in 1968.)
"I learned a lot of it through the show, especially since they were using a lot of the stereotypes as a way to exploit them or expose them or to debunk them," she continued. "And a lot of times obviously in a creative situation, those stereotypes are what causes tension and story lines and plots."
Having an unbiased viewpoint on multicultural relationships is also a trait that the "Shakespeare in Love" star has shared with her two children. In fact, the 39-year-old admitted that the shift of beauty in America is "long overdue."
"I don't want to bemoan the fact that it should've happened 50 years ago, because it's here now," she added. "And it's like the way I see it is that I have two little kids who are understanding the world in a time when Rihanna is on the cover of Vogue, and we have a black president. So their eyes are being as if they're experiencing the world for the first time. All of this stuff is just root -- it's normal stuff for them. And that to me is what's so incredible."
"When my daughter understood what a president was, it was a black man. It's not like me, where I grew up with all of these old white guys one after another ... Their perspective on race and everything is completely open and completely different to how it was when I was a kid."
Check out parts one, two and three of the interview above.
Also, check out an excerpt from Stoute's book below.
Excerpt from Chapter 10: "Tan Is The New Cool"
Very simply, authentically, Monster Beats by Dr. Dre arrived after two years in development with a statement from Dre that explained his passion, why this product filled a need--because "people aren't hearing all the music." Who has greater credibility on that point than Dre? No one to my knowledge. Dre's statement went on, "With Beats, people are going to hear what the artists hear, and listen to the music the way they should, the way I do."Oh, yeah. The truth sells. You might not be able to be a legendary music producer, but you could share the experience with professional-quality earphones for consumers that delivered sound as it was meant to be heard. Plus, they looked as cool as they fit. And when they hit the market, the sound experience more than exceeded expectations. By leveraging Interscope's stable of iconic artists, along with innovative partnerships with HP and Best Buy--not to mention superb marketing that included the likes of LeBron James in what became a must-see commercial with him sitting in his locker room with his Beats by Dr. Dre on and singing along (off-key) to Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time"--a sea change in awareness about the importance of sound followed next. The reception was so robust that a short time later Beats by Dr. Dre put out headphones with a Lady Gaga signature and high-quality earbuds for Sean "Diddy" Combs. When AdAge named Beats by Dr. Dre one of the hottest brands of 2010, Jimmy Iovine reported 1.3 million pairs sold for the year. He also announced that he and Dre's next collaboration with Hewlett-Packard was HP Beats Audio inside PCs and that five million units were readying for release.
Reprinted from "The Tanning of America" by Steve Stoute by arrangement with Gotham Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., Copyright 2011 by Steve Stoute.
For more information on Steve Stoute's "The Tanning Of America" click here.
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The Huffington Post Brennan Williams First Posted: 11/30/11 09:38 AM ET Updated: 11/30/11 05:03 PM ET