The Material Girl and the girl who always finds good material are
still thick as thieves.

Yes, the friendship between Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow is still on
for those keeping score. "I adore her," says Paltrow who stars
in "Possession." "However, the press exaggerates all aspects of our
friendship."

In the interest of clearing things up, Paltrow tells us, "Madonna and
I are friends. We sometimes hang out. We sometimes do yoga together.
We sometimes have a girls' dinner with a couple of friends."

So what don't they do together? "Reporters ask me, 'Are you living
with Madonna?' and I'm like, 'No,' " says Paltrow. "We're not
roommates. I think people tend to exaggerate that whole thing."

One wonders what draws the Detroit homegirl and the uptown fashion
queen toward each other. "We are friends because she is a
fantastically interesting woman," Paltrow says. "She's very powerful
within herself.

"Plus, we are on similar paths in our lives in what we eat and our
yoga--stuff like that."

Not so similar was the English press' reaction to their recent
theater debuts.

Paltrow got raves for the London version of "Proof" and Madonna was
basically panned for her play "Up For Grabs." Does that kind of thing
hurt a friendship? Paltrow pooh-pooh's the idea. "I don't read the
papers in London and Madonna doesn't read any papers either, so the
reviews didn't matter to either of us," she insists.