Gwyneth Paltrow’s shocking nickname for Winona Ryder exposed.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s claws allegedly came out in the ’90s—and Winona Ryder was in the crosshairs.
Gwyneth and Winona’s friendship highlighted.
Back then, the two actresses weren’t just A-listers—they were real-life BFFs, often photographed together and constantly in each other’s orbit.
Their friendship was so tight that Paltrow even moved into Ryder’s New York apartment after her split from Brad Pitt in 1997.
At the time, Ryder was dating Matt Damon, while Paltrow had begun dating Damon’s best friend, Ben Affleck.
It seemed like the ultimate Hollywood power clique—until cracks started to show.
The robbery drama profiled.
According to Amy Odell’s biography Gwyneth, things started to unravel when Ryder claimed she’d been robbed—twice.
Each time, she turned to Damon for support, and he was said to be deeply sympathetic.
But Odell alleges that Paltrow and Affleck believed Ryder was faking the break-ins for attention.
“Gwyneth was annoyed that Damon couldn’t see it,” Odell writes, painting a picture of a growing wedge between the group.
That suspicion, fair or not, reportedly caused Gwyneth to view Ryder—and even Damon—in a different light.
The once-thriving friendships began to disintegrate behind closed doors.
Friendship breakdown chronicled.
Things officially took a nosedive over a role that would define Gwyneth’s career: Shakespeare in Love.
Odell claims the script was originally in Ryder’s possession, sitting casually on her coffee table.
Gwyneth, who had previously turned the role down, allegedly saw it while staying at Winona’s apartment.
Shortly after, she accepted the role—and went on to win an Academy Award for it.
Rumors exploded in Hollywood that Paltrow had swiped the part straight from under Ryder’s nose.
According to Odell, Paltrow told friends that Ryder had leaked that damning story to the media.
She denied taking the script from Ryder’s home, insisting she got it through her agent.
But behind the scenes, the damage was done—and trust was obliterated.
Gwyneth’s cryptic blog post decoded.
Fast-forward to 2009, and Paltrow was still apparently nursing old wounds.
In a Goop blog post, she alluded to a former friend who “was pretty hell-bent on taking me down.”
“This person really did what they could to hurt me,” she wrote, without naming names.
“I was deeply upset, I was angry… But one day I heard that something unfortunate and humiliating had happened to this person.”
She admitted her reaction was “deep relief and happiness.”
Many readers speculated the post was about Ryder, who had faced a public shoplifting scandal in 2001.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s savage nickname explained.
According to Odell, Gwyneth began referring to Winona behind her back as “Vagina Ryder.”
The nickname allegedly circulated within their inner circle at the time, symbolizing how personal and nasty the feud had become.
It wasn’t just a cheap insult—it was a scorched-earth-level betrayal in the cutthroat world of ’90s Hollywood.
Odell claims it signified how deeply Paltrow felt wronged, and how far she was willing to go to mock her former friend.
Neither actress has commented publicly, but with the biography making headlines, the icy silence is deafening.
Hollywood secrets resurface—and the fallout still stings.
The resurfaced feud paints a picture of a Hollywood friendship gone brutally wrong—filled with whispered betrayals, stolen roles, and savage nicknames.
And with Amy Odell’s book cracking open the vault, it looks like Gwyneth and Winona’s secrets aren’t staying buried any longer.