Gwyneth Paltrow has finally cracked the case of how she mysteriously forgot she was in Spider-Man: Homecoming—which is kind of a big deal considering she was standing right there, on set, acting in it.
For those who missed this Oscar-worthy memory lapse, let’s rewind to 2019. Gwyneth was casually chopping vegetables with her Iron Man buddy Jon Favreau and chef Roy Choi on The Chef Show when Jon tried to remind her of her Spider-Man cameo.
“Remember we were in Spider-Man?” Jon said, probably assuming Gwyneth knew her own filmography.
“We weren’t in Spider-Man,” Gwyneth responded with the confidence of someone who has never been in Spider-Man (except she was).
“Yes, we were. You were in Spider-Man,” Jon insisted, while Roy threw in a helpful “Homecoming” as if that would jog her memory.
“No… I was in Avengers,” she argued, blissfully unaware of her own cinematic history. The conversation continued until—plot twist—she finally accepted her fate as a Spider-Man alum.
Now, years later, Gwyneth is finally explaining how this level of Hollywood amnesia was even possible.
According to her, Marvel operates like the secret service, but with more spandex:
“They keep it all very top secret,” she told Vanity Fair. “They think they’re the CIA over there, like it’s national secrets. That’s why I didn’t know I was in Spider-Man. They never said. There were no signs that said Spider-Man. The script didn’t even say Spider-Man. It’s all a secret.”
Yes, apparently, Gwyneth was unknowingly shuffled into Spider-Man like a confused tourist who accidentally walks into a Marvel scene and just rolls with it.
Then, when someone politely pointed out that she’s actually been in seven Marvel films, her response was pure gold:
“That can’t be right. I can’t have been in seven. Is that true?”
Yes, Gwyneth. It’s true. And at this point, we wouldn’t be surprised if she also forgot she played Pepper Potts.