Stars of ‘Thanks for Sharing’ open up about sex and politics

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Sex and politics: two of the most personal topics you can talk about with a person. Generally people don't like to discuss these things, but the stars on the Thanks for Sharing red carpet really opened up and exposed their intimate feelings.

The movie, which is a dramedy (I hate the word, but it's best descriptor for this film) about sex addiction, features Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins and Josh Gad as three recovering sex addicts who meet in a 12-step program. Despite the potential for hilarity embedded in a movie about sex, the red-carpet conversation was very serious, and all of the A-listers stayed on message.

"There is a line in the film where someone says, 'Isn't sex addiction just an excuse that men use when they get caught cheating?' but actually it's a real pathology," said Gwyneth Paltrow. "It was interesting to learn about it."

Matt Winston, one of the movie's writers, echoed Paltrow's words.

"I mean this has become a bit of an epidemic," he said. "Especially lately, we've seen so many powerful people giving it all up for this addiction... and yet so many people don't consider it an addiction. But we spent a year researching this and it's as real as any addiction: alcohol, drugs or gambling."

But the reality of sex addiction wasn't the only political topic talked about. Ruffalo, who is also working on a movie about early AIDS activists called The Normal Heart, talked about the importance of remembering the groundbreaking work these advocates did.

"I do [think this movie is still relevant today]," he said. "It's really about the people standing up for what's right. The AIDS epidemics was a major political shift; and activitism, it's a godfather to much of what we see today, including Occupy Wall Street."

Joining Ruffalo on the political trail was Tim Robbins, who took his time on the red carpet to talk about the current U.S. election.

"I think this election is about whether the American people want to live in the 21st century or the 19th century," he said.

So much for keeping politics out of the bedroom.