The Entertainment Weekly issue with the stars of Iron Man on the cover hit newsstands today. Funny thing: Gwyneth Paltrow ain't on it. Why? Because, apparently, she kills covers.
The three stars who do grace the cover -- Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johanssen, and Mickey Rourke -- certainly have their appeal and will no doubt attract newsstand sales, but Gwyneth Paltrow is, like, an A-lister, right? Well, maybe not. That would be forgetting the now-infamous Vogue cover she did last summer. You know, the one where she looked like an ice-queen-slash-space-alien? That one. Conde Nast confirmed it to be the company's worst-selling issue since 2001, only moving 350,000 copies off the newsstand.
Those kinds of figures were no doubt at the top of the editors' minds at Entertainment Weekly when they made the call not to put Paltrow on the cover -- fearing her, as the Post reported, to be "newsstand suicide." Which is definitely something that the folks in print just can't take a chance on these days.
Some other celebrities that most folks wouldn't take a chance on right now? Hilary Swank, Jennifer Connelley, and Katherine Heigl, all of whom have graced the worst-selling list for various other fashion mags over the years.
