Gwyneth Paltrow Reflects on Exes Brad Pitt, Chris Martin — Says Ben Affleck Was ‘Technically Excellent’ in Bed

In life, Gwyneth Paltrow has mostly followed her heart, but she’s almost missed some of its most crucial directions. During a recent appearance on the podcast Call Her Daddy, the actress delved into three of her most notable past romantic relationships, including Chris Martin, Ben Affleck, and her one-time fiancé Brad Pitt. She’s been married to a different Brad for five years now, but the details of her relationship with OG Brad are still fresh in her mind — even the more salacious ones.

“Brad was like the sort of major chemistry love of your life kind of like at the time you know, and then Ben was like technically excellent,” Paltrow told host Alex Cooper, deciding on a “really hard” tiebreaker about which of her past boyfriends was better in bed. It was a whirlwind romance from the first time Pitt and Paltrow encountered each other on the set of Seven in 1994. They were engaged by 1996 and called it quits a year later, before the wedding.

“He’s a great guy. He’s wonderful, I really like him a lot,” she said, adding that the timing just wasn’t right for them. “I had a lot of development to do, looking back in hindsight. In a lot of ways, I didn’t really fully start to come into myself until I was 40 years old. And I had such a pleasing issue. I didn’t really even understand how to listen to my instincts and act from that place.”

Still, she was “totally heartbroken when we broke up.” The first time she saw him afterward, at the 72nd Academy Awards, the fact that he was in the same room as her was enough of a distraction for her to fumble some of her words on stage.

“I remember seeing him ± this is so crazy — because I was like heartbroken and so upset, you know,” she said. “I remember the first time I saw him, I was presenting at the Academy Awards the year after I won, and I walked out, and I was like so cognizant of him being there, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is so scary and so awkward.’”

Paltrow ended up marrying Martin in 2003 and welcoming two children with him. But that almost didn’t happen because when the singer first invited her to a Coldplay concert in Ireland, she almost skipped out on the date. “I was so depressed… I said this is crazy, this kid from Coldplay asked me to go see his concert,” she remembered. “I was like, ‘this is nuts, I’m not going,’ and [a friend] was like, ‘You’ve got to go, this is the first time you’ve smiled since your dad died.’”

They later divorced in 2016, but just like she described meeting Pitt as love at first sight, she said she had a special draw to Martin. “I think I had this deep calling. On some level, I knew he was gonna be the father of my kids maybe or something; it was a very strong feeling,” she explained.

During a game of “Fuck, Marry, Kill” on the podcast, Paltrow admitted she would do it all again with Martin as her husband. And despite ruling Affleck the better lover on paper, the actress opted to kill him. “Ben, yeah, God bless him,” she laughed.