Gwyneth Paltrow Talks Packing On The Pounds After ‘Iron Man 2’

Gwyneth Paltrow is known for her slender frame, but immediately after playing “Iron Man’s” sexy assistant Pepper Potts in the film’s sequel, she plumped up — on purpose.

The actress headed to Nashville, where she filmed “Love Don’t Let Me Down,” a project where audiences will see her starring as a musician, one who her boss said needed to have a fuller figure.

“Basically, I play a country western singer and I had been in great shape for ‘Iron Man 2’ and the director said, ‘I don’t want you to be so muscle-y,’” Gwyneth explained to Access Hollywood’s Tony Potts on Monday at the junket for “Iron Man 2” in Los Angeles. “So it wasn’t so much gaining weight as [a means of] just trying to soften up the edges a bit and not work out so much.”

Gwyneth revealed she added double digits to her tender frame.

“I gained probably like 10 pounds,” she said.

The actress attempted to indulge a little more, but a hefty work schedule kept the pounds from packing.

“Yeah, I tried to gain more, but I think I was also working so hard and such long hours that, you know, it was offset — my Bridget Jones attempt,” she laughed.

Lest anyone think she is superhuman, Gwyneth revealed taking off the weight wasn’t a breeze.

“Much tougher to take it off! Oh my God,” Gwyneth exclaimed. “It was hard.”

So how did she do it?

“Diet and exercises,” she noted, adding that she worked out to DVDs from her trainer Tracy Anderson, who has also helped sculpt the body of Madonna.

“It’s just fantastic,” Gwyneth said of her Tracy workouts. “I love eating and food so much and if I do cardio then I can eat and that means the world to me so I do it everyday.”