Newton intimidated by "cool" Paltrow

Thandie Newton has revealed that she felt intimidated by Gwyneth Paltrow when they first met.

The Crash star said she had found Paltrow "effortlessly cool" when they co-starred in 1995 movie Jefferson In Paris.

She told The Guardian: "I think I went through my mid-life crisis when I was in my early 20s. I think a lot of women spend their 20s thinking, 'I don't know what I am doing, do I like myself?' And I had that to an extreme.

"I remember when I first met Gwyneth Paltrow. We were both 21 and she was just this luminous, effortlessly cool young woman. And I was so incredibly self-conscious and shy. I was for a long long time, and we were so similar and yet so different."

The actress, now 35, added: "She just felt entitled. She had an entitlement about her which I didn't have."

Newton recently signed to play Condoleezza Rice in upcoming George Bush biopic W.