GWYNETH PALTROW - GWYNETH DEFENDS HER TV CHAT

GWYNETH PALTROW got candid about her past loves on American TV last week (09OCT03) because she thought talking about BRAD PITT and BEN AFFLECK would end years of speculation.

The usually private actress shocked fans when she spoke about how she wrecked her romance with ex-fiance Pitt and advised Affleck to "sort himself out".

But she hopes her chat with newswoman DIANE SAWYER will bring closure to the endless speculation about her past loves.

She says, "I turned 30 last year (02), my father died five days after, and my life has changed so much in the last year and I see things completely differently than I ever have.

"I thought that maybe if I was just kind of honest about where I stood about things that it would become less of a water cooler issue."

Paltrow now hopes the press and the public will stop scrutinising her current romance with COLDPLAY star CHRIS MARTIN, even though many felt compelled to ask about the ring she was wearing on her wedding finger during London junkets for her new film SYLVIA at the weekend (11/12OCT03).

She says, "The relationship that I'm in is really like sacred to me and I just feel like I need to protect it. It's something that's very special."

Paltrow insisted the ring was just for show.