She told USA Today newspaper: "It's for a really good cause. This has been planned for a long time, so I couldn't take a sick day today."

Gwyneth's father Bruce died in 2002 after losing his battle to throat cancer.

She added: "My life has been affected by cancer in so many different ways. When my father had cancer, he found it so isolating. It's very difficult to empathise with it if you haven't gone through it."

In other news, Gwyneth Paltrow says husband Chris Martin's new album is going to be
"insane".
Though Chris and his Coldplay bandmates are yet to divulge when their
eagerly-awaited fourth LP will be released, Gwyneth says her spouse is
working hard and fans won't be disappointed.
The actress was quoted by Britain's Daily Star newspaper as saying: "I don't
think the album will come out soon, but I think it's going to be their best
one. It's going to be insane.
"Chris has done it differently this time. He doesn't like it when I talk
about him, but I will say I think he felt that he had so much pressure on
him for the last album, it felt like it was a product of a lot of different
energies.
"This time he's got laser-like precision. It's incredible to watch."
Gwyneth - who married Chris in 2003 - fell for the singer after watching a
Coldplay concert in October 2002. The couple have a two-year-old daughter,
Apple and 10-month-old son Moses.