Newton intimidated by "cool" Paltrow

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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.