Why we remain ‘magnetically attracted' to Gwyneth Paltrow, by her biographer

South China Morning Post

4 days ago

Just days before the release of the much-anticipated Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy Odell, the book's subject, actress and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow, inserted herself into one of the most viral stories of the summer.
In a video posted to Astronomer's social media accounts, Paltrow announced her new role as the company's 'temporary spokesperson'. The AI company has been in the news since an affair between its CEO and its head of HR was uncovered through a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert in Boston earlier in July. The band's lead singer is Paltrow's ex-husband Chris Martin, who is also the father of her two children.
That carefully orchestrated – and likely well-remunerated – stunt was yet another example of how the 52-year-old Oscar winner and wellness guru always manages to be part of the conversation.
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Amy Odell spent three years researching Gwyneth: The Biography. Photo: Handout
In an interview prior to the release of the book, journalist and writer Amy Odell, also the author of a bestselling biography of American Vogue's former editor-in-chief
Anna Wintour , calls Paltrow 'a master of the attention economy'.
'If you try to think of people who have had cultural impact, it's not a long list,' she says. 'But she is someone who, for 30 years – love her or hate her – has been in the public eye; people have been magnetically attracted to her, people have found her incredibly polarising. So I thought there was an opportunity to explore how she became this person who is so fascinating and so polarising, and how she impacted all of these different industries: beauty, fashion, entertainment and wellness, which I think is the most significant of all.'
Odell devotes a big chunk of the book to Paltrow's role in the creation of what she calls the 'wellness economy'. Paltrow single-handedly transformed that industry in 2008 when she established Goop, a newsletter turned media platform and online retailer catering to wealthy women like herself.
Gwyneth Paltrow with her late father Bruce Paltrow and her mother Blythe Danner at the 71st Academy Awards. Photo: AFP
Odell does a great job delving into the charmed life of Paltrow, the daughter of late director
Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner . Growing up on movie, television and theatre sets surrounded by A-listers such as her godfather Steven Spielberg, Paltrow catapulted to fame in her 20s, winning an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love (1998) when she was only 26. She also became tabloid fodder thanks to high-profile relationships with actors such as Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck.
While Paltrow has played her fair share of remarkable roles in movies such as Seven (1995), Sliding Doors (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and within the Marvel universe, Odell believes that Goop will overshadow all her other projects. 'I think that her legacy will probably not be for her acting roles – and they are iconic acting roles – but for her impact on the wellness industry specifically, and for showing the world how much people will spend and how much effort they will undergo to be well, no matter what science tells us.'
Odell goes to great lengths, perhaps even too great, to debunk all the bogus health claims that Goop has made over the years. As a veteran journalist, she takes her fact-checking seriously. This is evident on every single page of the book – and is also in stark contrast to the way the Goop editorial team operates, according to Odell's sources.