The 38-year-old star has two young children - Apple, six, and Moses, four - with her Coldplay frontman husband Chris Martin.
She said to US Good Housekeeping: 'I'll probably get kicked out of our school for admitting this, but I let Apple stay home yesterday. I just needed to be with her.'
The actress then revealed how she spent her day with her little girl.
She said: 'We went out to lunch, we went to the beauty salon, we were together.'
However problems were caused when her younger son Moses found out and Apple promised him he could also pull a sickie one day.
Paltrow then told her daughter: 'Apple, couldn't you have just asked me first? I know you're trying to make your brother feel better, but... oh, Apple!'