Is Gwyneth Paltrow The Most Perfect Celebrity Ever?

Gwyneth Paltrow is the world's most beautiful woman, according to the latest issue of People Magazine.

The accolade, announced Wednesday, comes a mere two weeks after the actress topped Star magazine’s list of “Most Hated Celebrities.” Love her or hate her, Paltrow is clearly doing something right.

A rep for People told The Today Show that celebrities have to be more than physically beautiful to make the list and that Paltrow was chosen for the following hefty criteria: She’s stunning, her cookbook “It’s All Good” debuted number one on The New York Times bestseller list, she’s 40, she’s a mom, and oh yeah, she has a new movie out, “Iron Man 3” (which, ahem, hits theaters on May 3rd, a week after People hits newsstands) The rep also added that Paltrow has a good heart, a self-deprecating sense of humor, and doesn’t take herself too seriously. 

Oh, totally. Paltrow told the magazine that when her husband Chris Martin (of Coldplay) sees her dressed up, he has a giant revelation about whom he’s married to. "(Chris will) make a joke about it. If I've gotten fully dressed up, he'll be like, 'Oh, wow! You're Gwyneth Paltrow!' Because he's used to seeing me in like baggy shorts and frizzy hair."

It's those signature humble-brags that has made Paltrow as publicly loathed as she is loved. Even People's editors recognized their choice was controversial, tweeting: “Gwyneth haters, listen up: Here are 5 reasons why you know you secretly love her.” Maybe the word 'love' is strong, but the constant, near-unbreakable fixation so many people have with the actress is undeniable. To that end, Paltrow is winning.

In addition to her next movie “Iron Man 3” —which is expected to earn $1 billion at the box office—she has two gluten-free beautiful kids, a loving husband, and, in her own words, the butt of a “22-year-old stripper.”  One might say she’s the “perfect celebrity” having seemingly cracked the marketing secret to fame—be endearing enough to capture a core audience with aspirational diet and lifestyle tips (vegan cookies, $295 jumpsuits), but also keep those fingernails-on-the-chalkboard humble-brags coming.  Her ability to simultaneously offend and appeal to fans is best appreciated through quotes.

Gems like— “I’ve always been told I have good skin" and "Luckily I have a good base because I work out often”—keep people wondering what she’ll say next, in a car-crash sort of way.

And even if Paltrow ever falls completely out of favor with the public, she’s unlikely to fade quietly into the night. One Stanford University study found that even when celebs are talentless (which she isn’t), they stay in the public consciousness because of our human desire to find common ground in conversation. Paltrow's image is just the kind of common ground that keeps us talking.  

As for her reaction to being chosen as the winner of People's beauty contest, she offered yet another perfect one-liner. "I honestly thought someone was playing a joke on me," she told the magazine. Sure she did.