The Goop On Gwyneth

Ten years on from the launch of her juggernaut lifestyle website Goop, and with a brand new cookbook on the shelves, Gwyneth Paltrow has risen above her critics to become a powerful force for wellness and women

- Phoebe Watt

Conscious uncoupling. Vaginal steaming. Jade eggs. If you’re not tapped into celebrity culture and don’t stay abreast of internet phenomena, these concepts may not ring any bells. Most, however, will be familiar with at least one of the three, and many will know exactly what they all have in common. Or make that, ‘who’. Such is the influence of Gwyneth Paltrow, the Academy Award-winning actress-turned-author, entrepreneur, and self-appointed lifestyle oracle, whose wellbeing website Goop.com has, since its launch in 2008, been our gateway to a world of divorce euphemisms, alternative feminine hygiene rituals and – just look up ‘ jade eggs’, okay?

Born into Hollywood royalty (her father was the late director Bruce Paltrow, her mother is Emmy Award-winning actress Blythe Danner), Gwyneth made a steady ascent from child star (Hook, 1991), to supporting role (Se7en, 1995), to leading lady (Emma, 1996). By the time she was 25, and took home the Best Actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love in 1999, her golden girl status was cemented.

Reality bites

Since her foray into the wellness world, the 46-year-old has cut a slightly more polarising figure. Google her name and, unless she’s done something especially newsworthy that week – for example, married TV producer and Glee cocreator Brad Falchuk at a lavish ceremony in East Hampton, which she did in September 2018 – the majority of hits that come back are variations on a theme. That is, tabloid-penned listicles that rehash her so-called ‘pretentious’ (and often out of context) turns of phrase, and perpetuate the myth that she’s lived a life of privilege.