When Gwyneth Paltrow needs something in her life, be it a professional but gorgeous courtroom ensemble, a moisturizer, or a scented candle, she just makes it. Her company, Goop, celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, and in an interview with the New York Times, Paltrow reflected on the company’s growth from recommendations newsletter to category-crossing lifestyle conglomerate and more.
She started off the interview by setting the record straight once and for all: Yes, she really is in charge of Goop and all that it touches. And she knows that you don’t believe that she is. But “I definitely operate the company.”
“I don’t think that anybody thinks I actually operate my company,” she said.
Correcting that public perception, she thinks, is a “bit of a fruitless exercise.”
That didn’t stop her from making one gentle correction to what people know her for—namely, that she runs mostly on bone broth, intermittent fasting, and good vibes. Not that she denied being fueled by any of those things, but she mentioned that she eats three meals a day and that “I think a European croissant is a superfood, by the way…Today I had a peanut butter smoothie. And for lunch we had a chopped Italian chicken salad.”
And despite occasionally horrifying her daughter Apple Martin by detailing past love affairs, she also knows tact. Of her goopy legacy, which includes introducing both the phrase “conscious uncoupling” and a candle that claims to smell like her vagina to the world, she simply said, “If history has shown me anything, it’s that I’m always looking back, going, ‘Wow, that was an interesting thing to experiment with.”
And it’s just as well, because it sometimes seems like everything she does is destined to become a meme. Hang out with her mother (Blythe Danner) and daughter at a fundraiser? You won’t miss it. That sex convo where she thoughtfully rated ex-fiancé Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck (“technically excellent”)? You’ll hear it. Even her wardrobe when she went to court earlier this year over a ski accident she was involved in, largely made up of her own fashion line, called G. Label, was obsessed over. Forget those tasteful yet stylish pantsuits—even her attorney was obsessed over.
“I was just getting dressed and going to a pretty intense experience every day,” she said of the fashion analysis that overshadowed the legal analysis (she was ultimately found not at fault in the 2016 accident). “And the sartorial outcome was so weird to me. That whole thing was pretty weird. I don’t know that I’ve even processed it. It was something I felt like I survived. Sometimes in my life it takes me a long time to look back and process something and understand something.”
Though Paltrow remained circumspect when discussing Goop’s future and her ultimate plans for the company, she did answer the question we’ve all had on the tip of our tongues: What, exactly, does she think of Brad Pitt’s skincare line?
“It’s good,” she said. “Yeah, it’s really beautiful.”
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