WHY ARE THEY FAMOUS? NO 7: GWYNETH PALTROW

Main Claim: Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt. For two years, Gwyneth has been the very public girlfriend of the world's most lusted after actor. Thus, a generation of girls literally dreams of being Gwyneth Paltrow. Her sidekick prompts universal salivation: lesbian magazine Diva recently named him among its top 30 lesbian lust objects. "Getting a crush on Brad Pitt is pathetic," Gwyneth had to tell herself when first smitten. Brad has referred to Gwyneth as "my angel".

Appearance: Pale undefined aquarium inhabitant. Despite a sucked in lower lip and corrugated brow, she sports the trappings of prettiness, namely long blonde hair and a good bod. The press careers into overdrive on the subject of Miss Paltrow. Grace Kelly has been mentioned. Heaven forfend.

Flavour of the Week: Along with Mira Sorvino, Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey and Elisabeth Shue - ever heard of any of them before a couple of years ago? Paltrow is one of Hollywood's spanking new Uberstarlets. Beware. In Hollywood you are now famous for 15 months. This frenetic planetary activity makes Demi Moore and Julia Roberts look passe. Gwyneth is indubitably girl of the month. Watch this space.

Jane Austen: You can't go wrong with Jane. Terrible infantilist clothes, National Trust properties and you'll make several million pounds. A yankee starlet is probably not what the author had in mind for her upper-class English miss. However, Gwyneth's accent as the eponymous Emma has been garnering the kind of notices formerly associated with Meryl Streep.

Career Highlights: Much has been made of Gwyneth's waitressing stint. "I would work in a restaurant, making $11 a night in tips, and buy a pack of cigarettes and coffee and toilet paper and stuff." She is an ordinary girl, you see. She played a sexy drifter in the appalling Flesh and Bone at 19 and was Brad Pitt's wife in Seven. The famous fiance and Jane Austen have since shot her into the A-list.

Family Values: Gwyneth is a privileged girl of 23, who has no interesting starry skeletons - problem mother (Demi),hippie parents (Winona and Uma) - to boost her biography. She does have a funny name, but it's a Welsh-sounding old lady's name, and that's not much cop. Her parents are famous, though. Mother is stage actress Blythe Danner; father is television producer Bruce Paltrow of St Elsewhere renown.

Fame Prospects: Gwyneth is going English again as Estella in the forthcoming Great Expectations. Her co-star is Robert De Niro. Oh dear. The Hollywood machine is vicious, famous fiances become old husbands, and backlash follows hype. "I really feel," says Paltrow, "that if there are any more pictures of me anywhere, people are going to kill themselves."