Gwyneth Paltrow has made quite a few headlines lately. The list of things the actress-turned-lifestyle guru has drawn ire for is seemingly endless: insisting she made yoga a thing, perpetrating a violent ski-and-run incident, publicly performing what many considered a pretentiously overwrought “conscious uncoupling” from her ex-husband Coldplay frontman Chris Martin – oh, and just over a hundred pieces of dubious health advice advertised through her wellness empire, Goop.
But her latest PR stunt might just be her most controversial yet …
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Goop is the newsletter that became an empire.
Launched in 2008, Goop started as a simple weekly email by Paltrow that encouraged readers to “eliminate white foods” and do a number of other rich people things in the name of living their best lives.
What does “Goop” even mean?
Paltrow has said the “G” and “P” come from her initials, but the rest of the word is purposefully mysterious. “I wanted it to be a word that means nothing and could mean anything,” Paltrow has said.
The brand has always been widely considered a little pretentious.
While her intentions may be altruistic, much of Paltrow’s wellness advice is pretty out of touch.
Goop is infamous for its controversial health advice.
The website’s wisdom and recommended treatments range from ridiculous to downright dangerous.
There was the absurdly unrelatable column she wrote for busy moms.
Don’t you hate it when your robot can’t make coffee and you’re late for a fitting with your personal stylist? At least this blog delivered unto the world my all-time fav G.P. quote, “What up, gamers.”
The notorious yoni eggs.
“Made of heart-activating rose quartz” designed to deliver positive energy right up your… yoni. Colloquially, that’s “where the sun doesn’t shine.”
The encouragement of mugwort steams.
The vaginal cleansing intended to release negative energy and balance hormone levels sounds like a yeast infection waiting to happen.
Don’t worry, Goop has advice for where the sun does shine too.
The company claimed conventional sunscreen was dangerous for expecting mothers, and instead promoted the use of a mineral-based cream (also, please wear sunscreen every day!)
That landed G.P. in a bit of hot water.
And not the good yoni steam kind of hot water, either. The U.K. science organization, Good Thinking Society, found 113 misleading claims on the Goop website.
Some of Goop’s practices have proven fatal.
Last year, a 55-year-old woman died after receiving bee sting acupuncture therapy promoted by the brand as a treatment for arthritis and inflammation.
Unfortunately, reports show the risks greatly outweigh any potential results.
Evidence showed bee sting therapy can actually increase the risks for anaphylaxis, stroke, and death over time.
After a number of Goop’s claims were found suspect, a formal complaint was submitted.
The company was accused of false advertising and was forced to pay out a substantial financial settlement.
G.P. was also forced to hire a fact-checker for the company.
Which she was reportedly not thrilled about.
Clearly, Goop’s methods have been pretty unpopular.
The deceptive health advice, product recommendations, and ludicrous annual gift guides are basically a joke to everyone earning below the “millionaire” income bracket.
So it comes as no surprise that the next Goop experiment was met with some resistance.
The wellness guru is expanding her empire through new content, including a docuseries with Netflix.
The series was intended to reach a wider Goop audience.
G.P.’s team said the company has “bigger stories” to tell, and they want to use the streaming platform to do it. Is binge-watching a form of self-care?
Goop consulted medical professionals on the show.
Doctors, researchers, and experts weighed in during the half-hour episodes. Thanks, but Marie Kondo has already made our lives perfect G.P.
The empire expanded its podcast reach, too.
Goop’s podcast was one of the most-downloaded in 2018, with episodes ranging from self-help topics to interviews with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Julia Roberts.
The Goop pod recently interviewed former Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz.
Sitting down with the notorious billionaire currently getting roasted on Twitter for his ill-conceived presidential bid is probably not the best way to become more relatable to the masses.
People are not stoked to see Goop move in on their fav streaming service.
The announcement garnered attention from critics calling out Goop as nothing more than a rich person’s scam, a risk everyone is hyper-aware of with the recent dialogue around Fyre Festival.
Some say G.P.’s tips take advantage of women trying to have it all.
A preponderance of “wellness” marketing targets women. While they may promise holistic mental and physical health, many of the products advertised on Goop are simply dressed up versions of the same old useless products that have always leveraged women’s insecurities against them.
People have already suffered as a result of Goop’s unsubstantiated claims.
With a wider audience, there’s an even greater risk.
Conversations around non-traditional health practices are especially heated right now.
With a dangerous anti-vaccination movement leading to a resurgence of diseases from a bygone era, people are especially concerned with the consequences of popularizing pseudoscience.
But Paltrow’s latest social media move is just as controversial.
As she shared a bikini-clad snap, plus a lengthy essay about all of her thoughts on aging this week …
“My body, a map of the evidence of all the days, is less timeless,” she wrote. “Scarred from oven burns, a finger smashed in a window long ago, the birth of a child.”
“And while I do what I can to strive for good health and longevity, to stave off weakening muscles and receding bone, I have a mantra I insert into those reckless thoughts that try to derail me: I accept!”
I accept the marks and the loosening skin, the wrinkles. I accept my body and let go of the need to be perfect, look perfect, defy gravity, defy logic, defy humanity. I accept my humanity.”
What do you think of her post?