Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow has revealed she was unsure whether she would be able to return to Hollywood’s A-list after she took time out to be a mum.

The Iron Man actress took time off from her career from the birth of daughter Apple in 2004 to until after she had son Moses in 2006.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival to promote new film Two Lovers, she explained: “I really did not know if there would be a place for me any more… [it’s hard] if you’re a woman and especially if you’re not 25.

“Hollywood is pretty cut-throat and everybody’s got a short memory and there’s always somebody younger or hotter or you know, prettier or whatever. And I was very realistic about the fact that there might not be any more room for me.

“I definitely knew that I had lost my place that I had when I left. But I was hopeful that if I wanted to do good work then maybe the right thing would find me because I really felt like I had something to say again.”

But she’s glad she decided to risk a return because she felt like she “had something to say again”: “It gave to me kind of a lifeline. I feel like I was really able to be very free and raw and true.”

“Going from being a mother at home for a long time, which is the greatest joy of my life, to feel like an artist again… that was a gift.”