'I accept my body and let go of need to be perfect,' says Gwyneth Paltrow in 50th birthday message

Actress and businesswoman Gwyneth Paltrow turned 50 this week. To commemorate her milestone birthday, the "Iron Man" star posted a nude photo of herself covered in gold paint on Instagram. In just 18 hours the post received more than 500,000 likes and thousands of comments. A person commented, "Happy birthday!! The most bright, light-filled years of your life are ahead. Love you, my friend." 

Another wrote, "Happy Birthday to the trailblazer that has mastered the art of living well beautifully!!!! Love you @gwynethpaltrow happy 50!!!!!!!!!!" Paltrow uploaded a black and white photo of herself on Instagram wearing a bikini and doing a big leap on the grass before her birthday post. She captioned the photo, "Musings on Milestone," referencing the piece she wrote for Goop talking about her life before approaching her golden birthday.

The piece titled, "On Approaching 50," is about her journey till now and how she wants to "slow down," in the next phase of her life. She also talked about accepting her body while aging and the impact it has left on her mental health. She writes, "My body, a map of the evidence of all the days, is less timeless. A collection of marks and irregularities that dog-ear the chapters. Scarred from oven burns, a finger smashed in a window long ago, the birth of a child. Silver hair and fine lines."

"The sun has left her celestial fingerprints all over me, as if she soaked a brush in dark-taupe watercolor, flecking it over my skin. And while I do what I can to strive for good health and longevity, to stave off weakening muscles and receding bone, I have a mantra I insert into those reckless thoughts that try to derail me: I accept." She further adds, "I accept the marks and the loosening skin, the wrinkles. I accept my body and let go of the need to be perfect, look perfect, defy gravity, defy logic, defy humanity. I accept my humanity."

The "Great Expectations" star noted that she doesn't wish to go, "back in time to correct mistakes." She believes that "every one of those sleepless hours that came from one of these transgressions against myself or others has led to something. Something meaningful, I hope. If nothing else, they have led me to a path of questioning. Of seeking a better version of myself." 

She has previously spoken up about how she feels about getting older and her body image. She told PEOPLE last year, "I was just coming out of my 20s when you're in that sexy, young girl phase. And then you're like, 'Well, how do I reconcile who I am now with that?' For me, it was really about giving myself time to be a mother, and letting my body dictate where it was going."

Paltrow also talks about her goals for the future in the piece she wrote for Goop, a wellness and lifestyle brand she founded in 2008. She wrote, "I would like to slow down. I would like to retreat a little bit. I would like to make my circle smaller. I would like to cook dinner more. I would like to see misunderstandings become understandings. I would like to continue to open the deepest part of myself to my husband, even though it scares me." She also apologized to everyone who has had a "negative experience" with her. 

"What excites me is the feeling that we are living in the time of the spectrum. We seem to be embracing, like it or not, that life is not black and white," she added.