Gwyneth Paltrow recently took fans on a nostalgic trip back to her 1990s love life, subtly referencing her past romance with Ben Affleck during a candid podcast appearance. The Iron Man star appeared on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast on Tuesday, January 6, where she reflected on her early Hollywood connections and career-defining moments.
While discussing her brief association with the late Robin Williams, Paltrow revealed that their paths crossed around the release of Good Will Hunting in 1997. Without naming names at first, the Goop founder, now 53, noted that she got to know Williams at the time because she was “dating one of the people who wrote that movie and was in that movie,” a clear nod to Affleck, who co-wrote and starred in the Oscar-winning film.
Poehler quickly caught on, jokingly acknowledging the reference before praising Affleck’s performance. Paltrow agreed, calling Good Will Hunting “a perfect movie” and expressing her enduring admiration for the film.
The comment marked a rare public acknowledgment of her relationship with Affleck, whom she began dating in 1997 following her split from Brad Pitt. During their time together, the former couple also collaborated professionally, co-starring in Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Bounce (2000), before parting ways later that year.
Paltrow later married Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, with whom she shares two children, Apple and Moses. After their 2016 separation, she tied the knot with TV writer and director Brad Falchuk in 2018.
Affleck, meanwhile, was married to Jennifer Garner from 2005 to 2018 and more recently to Jennifer Lopez from 2022 until their reported split in 2025.