GWYNETH PALTROW - PALTROW COULDN'T COPE WITH YOUNG SUCCESS

Hollywood star GWYNETH PALTROW wishes she found success in her later years, because she had nothing to strive for after winning her Oscar.

While Paltrow's popularity in Hollywood peaked at the age of 26, the actress admits she was unequipped to cope wit the pressures of fame and didn't want to reach the pinnacle of her career so early.

After leaping to fame in 1995 thanks to her romance with BRAD PITT, Paltrow's more recent films have failed to match the huge success of 1998 period romance SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, for which she won an Academy Award.

Paltrow, who turns 33 today (28SEP05) says, "When you reach the pinnacle of your success at 26, as I did, it's not healthy.

"It leaves you in a sort of crisis in terms of what you're supposed to be and do for the rest of your life.

"I made the mistakes of working too much and it turned out to be really the wrong thing. I just had a lot of life in 10 years. I achieved a lot early, but I wasn't very happy."

Since her 2003 marriage to CHRIS MARTIN and the 2004 birth of their baby APPLE, Paltrow is finally happy.

She enthuses, "At this point in my life, I have a real life. Having Apple has changed everything for me."