Edel Coffey: To age as a woman in this world really has become a kind of personal failure

Somehow though, I don’t think I’ll celebrate turning 50 by spray-painting my body gold or donning a bikini

Edel Coffey: 'Despite all the giving out about her, I like Gwyneth’s approach to ageing, which is to try to be as healthy and as fit as she can so that she can enjoy her life as much and for as long as she can.' Photo: Ray Ryan

Did you see the photos of Gwyneth Paltrow celebrating her 50th birthday? One picture is of Gwyneth nude, spraypainted gold and looking fantastic. There is a second photograph of Gwyneth wearing a little bikini and jumping through the air looking very happy, apparently not a single concession made by her aging body to the gravitational forces of the earth.

Paltrow wrote an essay to go with the photo about turning 50 and how she is finally starting to accept her humanity.