Book alleges Gwyneth Paltrow's 'cult' of Goop hid 'difficult,' 'toxic' workplace

USA Today

7 days ago

Gwyneth Paltrow may be running defense as a temporary spokesperson for Astronomer after its now-former CEO's Coldplay concert drama, but a new biography is more interested in how she runs her own empire.
'Gwyneth' by culture and fashion journalist Amy Odell maps Paltrow from Hollywood nepo baby to household name to controversial wellness figure. The biography is based on interviews with over 220 sources, but Paltrow declined to speak for it.
'Gwyneth' (out now from Simon & Schuster) spans the star's life and includes a behind-the-scenes look at her relationship to Brad Pitt, her marriage and 'conscious uncoupling' to Coldplay's Chris Martin and her journey to Oscar-winning fame. Perhaps the most fascinating peek behind the curtain, however, comes at her career transition to Goop guru.
How Gwyneth Paltrow's out-of-touch lifestyle led to Goop
If there is one central theme in this deep dive of all things Paltrow, it's the actress' unrelatability extends much farther back than her jade egg shenanigans.
When promoting 'Emma' in 1997, Paltrow requested a private plane for herself and 10 friends, a penthouse suite at the Ritz where only her friends would be allowed and Mercedes vehicles to chauffeur her and her friends around, the book says. The plane ride alone cost Miramax $200,000 in today's dollars, Odell writes. And when she filmed 'Shallow Hal' alongside Jack Black, her team requested her lodgings be distant from the rest of the cast and crew.
But what kickstarted Paltrow's slide into the luxury wellness sphere was her father's throat cancer. While Bruce Paltrow was in denial about his health, Odell writes, Gwyneth took charge of hers – 'I felt I could heal him by proxy,' Gwyneth wrote in The Guardian. It was around this time that she was promoting 'Shallow Hal' (a poorly aged comedy in and of itself) and began sharing often unfounded comments about her health, like that her liver 'wouldn't drop down' during yoga because of her diet, Odell writes.
Around the mid-2000s, she became disillusioned with the film industry and asked her 'Spain… on the Road Again' producer Charlie Pinsky what her next move should be. Her ideas of food and home improvement projects seemed something like 'the next Martha Stewart' to Pinsky, but he insisted she focus on motherhood as her brand, Odell writes. She didn't take his advice. Branding expert Peter Arnell helped her come up with the name and fine-tune the vision for Goop.
Biography alleges Goop as a 'sometimes-toxic environment'
Behind the scenes of the clean marketing and health promises, employees Odell spoke with described Goop as 'one of the most difficult working environments they had ever encountered.' Odell says the employee said they 'never felt less well in my life than during my time there.' Paltrow had a 'capricious, indirect leadership style' that led to anger and resentment.
Her close relationships with some employees 'blurred the lines between professional and personal,' Odell writes – she had her food editor double as a personal chef, making her lunch and even sometimes dinner for her and husband Brad Falchuk.
Some employees described the office culture as "noxious and chaotic," Odell writes. She describes writers as overworked and underpaid, expected to be on call at all times, with some employees pulling over on the side of the road while driving to answer work messages. Paltrow offered employees a two-week 'Goopcation' but still expected employees to respond to her messages during that time.
Gwyneth Paltrow ruffled feathers at Condé Nast over Goop fact-checking
As Goop's influence ballooned, it treaded further and further into debunked wellness fads like vaginal steaming, bone broth diets and vaginal jade eggs (for which Goop was fined $145,000 in 2018 for unsubstantiated medical claims). Paltrow has seen herself as a crusader for little-known women's health topics, though medical experts abhor her 'vigilante health journalism,' Odell writes. According to Odell's reporting, "neither Gwyneth nor Goop's board nor its investors were concerned about these controversies."
When Condé Nast and Anna Wintour tapped Goop for a magazine partnership in 2017, the deal fell apart after only two issues because Paltrow and Goop wouldn't comply with Condé Nast's fact-checking standards.
There was also a power struggle over whether Paltrow or Wintour had true control over the magazine. Paltrow wanted complete control to promote Goop's merchandise in the magazine, but Condé Nast feared it would alienate advertisers or compromise integrity.
Odell reports that Wintour and Paltrow's relationship was a 'lovefest in the early days,' with the media mogul calling Paltrow 'baby' in meetings. But Wintour wanted the stories to be rigorously fact-checked, and Odell writes that Paltrow dismissed any criticism as 'patriarchal,' saying that she was 'finally illuminating truths that other outlets would not' about women's health, even if they weren't backed by science.
Experts Odell spoke with for 'Gwyneth' liken Goop to a cult because of the way its foundational wellness beliefs tie into consumers' identities.
'Proponents of wellness have positioned it as necessary opposition to Big Ag and Big Pharma, conveniently ignoring (what) they've created: Big Wellness,' Odell writes.
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Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at [e-mail].