I remember when I was maybe 27 years old and kind of at the height of my movie stardom - it was around the time of the Oscar and this and that. I think I was very much believing my own hype, which how could you not? I was sitting with my dad, feeling great about my life and everything that was happening, and he was like, "You know, you're getting a little weird...You're kind of an asshole." And I was like, "What the hell?" I was totally devastated. But it turned out to be basically the best thing that ever happened to me.

I think so many people give us ideas of what we are. I think as women especially, because we're sensitive by nature, we're more vulnerable, we absorb other people's ideas about what we're supposed to think or who we're supposed to be and how we're supposed to act.

My golden time is after I drop the kids off at school. I'm usually working on my website (lifestyle site Goop) and checking emails but I try to do something at least once a week - like a facial or a visit to the osteopath - something to bring myself back into my body.

I think it's the strange irony that we make all these life choices before we're 40, because really we shouldn't make any until we're 40. It almost feels like you get a software upgrade and you start to experience life in such a different way, because you just don't suffer fools, you go straight for what means something and what feels good, and you stop caring about pleasing other people.

I think the most clear, direct way to empowerment is to really know yourself and to really use your voice and to not be afraid of other people's reactions.

I love men, even though they're lying, cheating scumbags.

I'm a bit traditional in the way that I think that a woman draws her energy from the house. Food is a really nice way of expressing that energy and love, and doing something with care and putting time into it and nourishing your family.