Gwyneth Paltrow braved 'landmines' to avoid becoming 'evil' stepmother

Gwyneth Paltrow is not afraid to lay it all bare.

The 50-year-old actress revealed the hardships of navigating being a stepmother to husband Brad Falchuk’s two children Isabella, 19, and Brody, 17, during a Q&A session on her Instagram.

Paltrow invited her fans to ask her anything on Instagram earlier this week, prompting one to ask the actress about her experience in a blended family, raising kids of her partner.

“Do you find it hard sometimes to be a bonus (step) mom?” the question sticker on the Iron Man actress’s Instagram Story read. “I only ask because I do at time.”

The Academy Award winner went on to reply to the question via a video, admitting she “did find it really hard at first.”

“You know? There’s no book on this. Nobody tells us what to do. And in fact, all of the existing media around what a stepmother is casts us in this evil, villainous light,” the Goop founder continued.

“It’s kind of like trying to avoid landmines.”

The actress reflected on the difficulties of inviting oneself to a family of teens, noting that it accompanies “all kinds of fear” on the kids’ part.

“But you know for myself, the minute I decided and fully embodied the idea that my step-kids were my kids and I loved them just as much, and I gave them the same rules and boundaries and just kind of wholeheartedly went for it, the easier the whole thing got,” she explained.

Paltrow tied the knot with Falchuk in 2018, who shares his teenage kids with his former wife of 19 years, Suzanne Bukinik.

Meanwhile, the health guru is a mother to daughter Apple, 19, and son Moses, 17, whom she shares with ex-husband Chris Martin.