Gwyneth's Remark Sparks Male Outrage

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/16/2002 at 10:00 AM EDT

Never poke fun at the British male ego. Gwyneth Paltrow, 29, currently starring in a London production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway drama "Proof," delivered a mocking complaint in an interview that British men never ask her out. Her precise words to Now magazine: "British people don't seem to ask each other out. If someone asks you out, they are really going out on a limb whereas in America, it happens all the time." As Reuters reports, the remark struck a raw nerve with Britain's stiff-upper-lipped Romeos. The tabloids, especially, are having fun at the "Shakespeare in Love" Oscar winner's expense. "Sorry Gwyn, but you nasal, gum-chewing U.S. girls are frighteningly sexless and just plain dull," claimed the Daily Mirror tabloid on Friday. "Give our British men a break, Gwyneth," begged the down-market Sun. The Daily Mail suggests that Paltrow still longs for her old flame, Ben Affleck, who has found a new squeeze. "The real reasons Gwyneth is unhappy: she's lost her man to Jennifer Lopez," it said. Even the relatively staid The Times of London joined the bandwagon, proffering a list of eligible bachelors who might tickle Paltrow's fancy. Among them: steeplechase jockey Richard Johnson, who has just broken up with Queen Elizabeth's feisty granddaughter Zara Phillips (daughter of Princess Anne). But the paper was also forced to admit: "He is a tad boring and rumored to be prone to jealousy."