Gwyneth Paltrow has opened up about her struggles with her mental health, admitting she has started to suffer from "intrusive thoughts." The 53-year-old spoke candidly about how she now battles with anxiety and a "messed up" nervous system on top of believing she has "attention deficit disorder" on the latest episode of her Goop podcast. "I would like to be more intentional about how I spend my time," she said. "I think I have a bit of ADD, and I can really get pulled in lots of directions. I would love to try to not do that so much and feel more grounded throughout the day."
The Oscar winner said she is struggling to switch off after living an "intense" life in the public eye, and her changing hormones are making it difficult for her to deal with her newfound anxiety. "I've lived a very intense life in the public eye for a really, really long time," Gwyneth continued. "And so I think whenever we're at the mercy of people's opinions and all the energy behind the opinions – I'm very sensitive, as most of us are – it kind of frays my nervous system.
"Also, I have a lot of anxiety for the first time in my life, which is a symptom of hormonal changes. I think it's an oestrogen dominance thing. It makes you really anxious. So part of it is physiological, part of it is psychological, part of it's emotional, and part of it's public life."
Admitting the last few years have been particularly difficult, Gwyneth said: "I don't know why it is that in the past couple of years it's hit me so hard. But I know there's something wrong because my cortisol [stress hormone]... like I'll get in bed exhausted and my heart will start to race.
"And then I'll have intrusive thoughts, which I've never had in my life ever. My sleep is still pretty okay, but sometimes I wake up first thing in the morning and I'm filled with dread. So there's a lot of parts to it, but definitely there's a big nervous system component."
Gwyneth has turned to professionals to help her cope with her new reality and the support of her family. "I have two therapists. One is a nervous system specialist," she said. "I have amazing friends, amazing, amazing, amazing women in my life, whom I can call if I need help.
"And then I get a lot of healing from my family, from my kids and my husband. If I can be with everyone, especially if all four kids – my step-kids and my kids – and my husband and I, if we're under one roof, my nervous system calms down."
Gwyneth admitted she wants to learn to "rewire" herself because of her heightened emotional state. She explained: "'Sometimes I'll get an email or some work thing or there's a problem or an issue and I really take it like it's a slap in the face. I would really like to rewire myself so that medium or bad news doesn't feel so terrible."