Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, has lifted the lid on a monumental feud between his magazine and the actress Gwyneth Paltrow. According to Carter, issues arose when Paltrow threatened to boycott the magazine to prevent them from releasing an "epic take-down" piece that would have reportedly been image-damaging for the Iron Man star.

Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow Pulled The Curtains Down On A Vanity Fair Article About Her.

Carter likened Paltrow to the evil Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un after she was successful in influencing the magazine to run a less harsh piece in the December 2013 issue by demanding that neither her friends nor family should communicate with the magazine. "Not to bore you with the details," Carter writes via the March 2014 Editor's letter, "but the whole Vanity Fair - Gwyneth Paltrow brouhaha began innocently enough at a routine morning editorial meeting last spring," via Vanity Fair.

"We were reviewing assignments and batting around story ideas, and at one point I idly mentioned that I would be interested in reading something on Gwyneth Paltrow." The editor insists the original story was borne out of his request that he wanted "a reasoned, reported essay on the hate/love-fest that encircles Gwyneth Paltrow," after noticing "that people tend to have passionate opinions on the actress."

Graydon Carter
Graydon Carter Has Explained What Led To Gwyneth Issuing A Boycott Demand On His Magazine.

After the story was assigned, a reporter reached out to individuals close to Gwyneth but not before the Shakespeare In Love star could shut down the article. "She asked that [friends and family] not speak to Vanity Fair about her, or about anything else ever again. Ever. Never," explained Carter, adding damningly "Kim Jong-un couldn't have issued a more blanket demand."

"And then things just went haywire," Carter continued, as "magazines and websites tried both to anticipate what we had in our story and to best us." Gossip magazines were quickly filled with speculation regarding Paltrow's marriage to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and her role as a mother of two.

"In October, Gwyneth called me. We talked for about 20 minutes about the story and her reaction, or over-reaction, to it," said Graydon. "At one point, she asked my advice as to what to do to get the 'haters' on her side. I suggested putting on 15 pounds. I joked that it works for me. She replied I had put on much more than that. Which I thought was fair and funny."

Gwyneth Paltrow East Hampton Library
The Editor Said That The Original Piece Probably Wasn't The "Epic Take-Down" Haters Expected.

The editor then explained the magazine found itself between a rock and a hard place: mail started streaming in from readers criticising them for caving in after news of Gwyneth's boycott circulated. "We were in uncharted waters. At Vanity Fair, we tend to keep stories we are working on under our hats. It's not easy being a monthly magazine in an Internet age [...] a certain amount of institutional secrecy is required," he said.

Carter did note that the original article they had planned probably wasn't the one that Gwyneth's haters had presumed. "It was such a far cry from the almost mythical story that people were by now expecting - the "epic takedown," filled with "bombshell" revelations - that it was bound to be a disappointment [...] as delightfully written as it was, is not the one the anti-Gwynethites expect," the Vanity Fair editor insisted.