Gwyneth & Goop

Nei Jia: the Qigong and Taijiquan Forum Traditional Chinese Medicine
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BLITHE SPIRIT “I think a lot of Goop was an expression of her own creative guide,” says Paltrow’s longtime yoga teacher, Eddie Stern. “ ‘This is who I am; this is what I have to offer,’ and she grew with that.” Araks bikini, $230 for set, araks.com, Prada skirt, $1,840, select Prada boutiques PHOTO: LACHLAN BAILEY FOR WSJ. MAGAZINE, STYLING BY GEORGE CORTINA

At the time, as Paltrow was considering her next move, there was no Instagram or Snapchat; Facebook was mostly for college kids. “Influencer” was not yet a job description, so she couldn’t post images from her yoga classes with Madonna, her yacht trips with Valentino Garavani or her homemade meals—hashtag “wellness”—and wait for deals to roll in. Nor had the rabid thirst for a celebrity’s daily life quite reached today’s fever pitch. “Cameron Diaz and I talk about this all the time. We’re like, ‘Thank God in the early ’90s there were [so few] paparazzi. Thank God.’ We cry in gratitude that no one was following us around and seeing what we were doing,” she says. “I remember when Brad Pitt and I broke up, it was on the cover of the New York Post and there was no one outside my house. That would never happen today.”

Celebrities were just starting to become brands, though most examples were of apparel and fragrance lines created by mass-market licensing deals and partnerships with manufacturers. By 2005, Jennifer Lopez’s fragrance line had $100 million a year in revenue. The same year, Jessica Simpson launched a self-named fashion and accessories brand, which went on to clock a reported $1 billion in annual sales. But the term “female founder” was not yet trending—there was no Honest Company from Jessica Alba, no ED by Ellen DeGeneres, no Draper James from Reese Witherspoon. Creating a company from scratch was not something Paltrow’s peers were doing. “I didn’t even know what a VC was,” she says. She still isn’t sure what drove her to sit down at her kitchen table in 2008 and write a newsletter that included a recipe for turkey ragù. “I’m still, to be totally honest, trying to sort out the why. I think I do have a very entrepreneurial spirit—you have to have that in order to be an actor, right?” says Paltrow. “In my acting life, it was very clear what the path was. This was very mysterious. I felt like I was following a thread in a dark room, but I was compelled to follow it.”

The Goop name came from a combination of her initials and the double o that a branding-expert friend had joked was a trend in Silicon Valley ( Yahoo ; Google). And just like Google, which became a verb, the name is now used as an adjective, as in: “That coconut-yogurt dragon-fruit bowl is so Goopy.”

From the start, Goop’s focus included wellness, a lifestyle that had called to Paltrow since her father, director Bruce Paltrow, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998. (He died four years later, at 58, when Paltrow was 30.) “He’s the reason I got into this whole thing. I just remember the surgery was so brutal, and then I thought, Wow. What else can we do?” Paltrow began reading up on macrobiotics and seeking answers to the potential causes of his disease—an imbalance, environmental toxins, HPV virus, smoking. “I was trying to take control of his life because he wouldn’t,” she says. He died suddenly, when they were traveling together in Italy for her birthday. Facing mortality head-on was a shock: “I don’t think I’ll ever be whole again, on some level,” she says now.


IN THE SWIM “We’re trailblazers,” Paltrow says of Goop. “We’re going to write about **** that people haven’t heard of.” Solid & Striped bikini, $160 for set, solidandstriped.com PHOTO: LACHLAN BAILEY FOR WSJ. MAGAZINE, STYLING BY GEORGE CORTINA

Shifting her persona from a whiskey-drinking, cigarette-smoking cool girl to a health nut had an unintended effect. “That was the beginning of people thinking I was a crackpot. Like, ‘What do you mean food can affect your health, you f—ing psycho?’ ” she says. “I remember when I started doing yoga and people were like, ‘What is yoga? She’s a witch. She’s a freak.’ ’’

“She was searching for something in the same way that anyone who comes to yoga is searching,” says her longtime teacher, Eddie Stern, who remembers her coming to the 5:30 a.m. classes at his SoHo studio on a daily basis. “I think a lot of Goop was an expression of her own creative guide. ‘This is who I am; this is what I have to offer,’ and she grew with that.”

“We’re trailblazers. We’re going to write about **** that people haven’t heard of,” says Paltrow. “It’s often women’s sexual health that is the most triggering.” A single 2015 Goop post that featured a Korean spa offering vaginal steaming has spawned reams of commentary in response. Enraged doctors accuse Goop of undermining the scientific method and engaging in quackery, citing everything from promoting stickers that claim to rebalance the body’s energy to publishing articles by a self-described “medical medium.”

This summer, Goop settled a lawsuit brought by a group of 10 California county district attorneys alleging “misleading advertising” of three of its products, including crystal yoni eggs, which Goop had offered as a sexual health aid. (They are now for sale on the site for $55, with almost no description beyond “rose quartz egg.”) Goop paid $145,000 in civil penalties and offered refunds for the products. The company says it recognizes that the forum it provides to describe experiences with its products may be subject to the same legal requirements as advertising and expressed gratitude for the guidance it has received as it “moves from a pioneer in this space to an established wellness authority.”

“I’m so happy to suffer those slings and arrows, because if you look at the culture from then to now, people are so curious,” Paltrow says. “It’s so beautiful to see people feeling empowered by natural solutions or ancient modalities alongside science and medicine.

“Forgive me if this comes out wrong,” Paltrow continues, “but I went to do a yoga class in L.A. recently and the 22-year-old girl behind the counter was like, ‘Have you ever done yoga before?’ And literally I turned to my friend, and I was like, ‘You have this job because I’ve done yoga before.’ ”

continued next post

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LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE Marc Jacobs sweater, $595, marcjacobs.com, Jacquemus swim brief, $125, jacquemus.com PHOTO: LACHLAN BAILEY FOR WSJ. MAGAZINE, STYLING BY GEORGE CORTINA

Wellness is now a $4.2 trillion business, according to a 2018 report by the Global Wellness Institute. Goop’s valuation hit $250 million this year. Though its revenues represent a fraction of the industry, for many it serves as an unofficial portal to all things wellness, with Paltrow in the role of patron saint—and lightning rod. The inverse of wellness is, of course, illness. The movement is built on a combustible combination: the fear of death, a growing distrust of Big Pharma and a dose of transcendentalism, that thoroughly American blend of self-actualization, spiritual freedom and love of the natural world that dates back to the 1800s of Emerson and Thoreau. When Goop devotees read about “rocking your intuitive crown” and performing meditation “cleanses” that the site dubs “spiritual botox,” they are closer to the ethos of Thoreau’s Walden Pond than they might think.

Around the same era, in England and America, snake oil became a widespread cure for common ailments. While traditional Chinese snake oil contains eicosapentaenoic acid, an anti-inflammatory and analgesic, versions sold in the Western world were often overpriced placebos. It wasn’t until the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act that such nostrums—sold as medications—were banned, setting the stage for the modern-day Food and Drug Administration. But the FDA does not test and approve cosmetics in the $135 billion skin-care or vitamins in the $96 billion dietary supplement industries. As with most vitamins, comparable products from Goop come with a caveat: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.” Goop says it also tests its own products from formulation to production. This fall, the company introduced Goopgenes; G. Day, a collection of body-care products formulated to “increase energy”; and Madame Ovary, a combo of herbs, adaptogens, nutrients and vitamins tailored for women in menopause, available for $90 per box or $75 as a monthly subscription.

Paltrow draws ire for her support of outlier medical opinions, but also for her products’ prices. The Goop by Juice Beauty Revitalizing Day Moisturizer is $100, on par with Tata Harper’s $110 Repairative Moisturizer, a similarly “clean” product, though it costs far less than luxury creams like La Mer’s, at $325. Clothing ranges from $200 to $1200, comparable to what the fashion industry calls “contemporary,” a tier below luxury fashion. (Witherspoon’s Draper James brand, by comparison, sells dresses in the $150 range.) The recent collaboration with CB2 includes $9.95 glasses and $16.95 plates, but on an Instagram ad for $125 Goop Exfoliating Instant Facial, comments include, “How much is it, $9,081 per ounce?”, “Go away, Gwyneth Paltrow,” and “Is there a way to ‘de-Goopify’ my feed?”

Paltrow has spent some time thinking about this. “It’s like the week that I was People’s most beautiful woman and Star’s most hated celebrity,” in 2013, she says. “It’s a lesson that I learned when we did the ‘conscious uncoupling’ thing.” The term went viral, and the reaction was “so vitriolic,” she says. “I was so raw. It was so hard to be getting a divorce and letting go of this dream, and the public stuff was super painful. I wanted to see if we could check our pain and egos at the door and remember what we love about each other and be a family for these kids. What I didn’t understand at the time was, I think there’s a message in that, which is, ‘If you don’t do it this way, you’re hurting your kids.’

“I think people take that as: ‘She thinks she is better than me,’ ” Paltrow says. She imagines everyone thinking: “Wait till she gets into it. It’s going to be hell.”

So far, Paltrow seems to have avoided hell. On the day of our interview, her son, Moses, and a friend ride ATVs up and down the property past Paltrow’s on-site yoga studio, pausing for a snack. “Oh, my gosh,” Paltrow says, bursting out in laughter. “They have my chief of staff—who has a degree from Harvard Business School—delivering them ice cream!” Martin later shows up to join Paltrow and the kids for dinner. In California, whenever Martin is not touring he picks up the kids from the school bus and takes them to Paltrow’s house in Brentwood. Paltrow handles morning drop-off, hits a class at the Paltrow-backed gym Tracy Anderson and then heads to the Goop offices. She leaves work at 5 p.m. to get home for dinner. When she is traveling, Martin sleeps at Paltrow’s house, where he has a room.

Thus far, she and Falchuk, who also has two teenage children, haven’t merged households and are taking it slow, even post-marriage. “We are still doing it in our own way. With teenage kids, you’ve got to tread lightly. It’s pretty intense, the teenage thing,” she says. “I’ve never been a stepmother before. I don’t know how to do it.” The pair met when Paltrow guest-starred on the Fox TV series Glee, which Falchuk co-created with producer Ryan Murphy. He and Murphy also created the upcoming Netflix series The Politician—in which Falchuk convinced Paltrow to take a supporting role. (Falchuk has an inside track, says Paltrow: “He said, ‘I wrote it for you and I know you don’t really want to do it and you probably can’t do it, but I would love you to read it.’ And he’s such a great writer.”) Her CEO responsibilities at Goop have left little room for acting, though Paltrow will reprise her recurring role as Pepper Potts in the next installment of the Avengers franchise.

The couple squeezed in their wedding between September back-to-school and the launch party for Goop’s London pop-up. In front of a small group of guests at Paltrow’s Amagansett home, she wore a Valentino gown. Stern, her yoga guru, officiated. On a phone call five weeks later, she says she is thrilled with married life: “It’s fantastic. I feel like we are probably better equipped to choose our life partner when we are halfway through life. But generally we have to pick our spouses a lot earlier because of the whole procreation piece… For me it has been more of a process, and so I feel really lucky to have met this person who is an incredible, true partner.”


Stock vintage sweater, $185, Stock Vintage, 143 East 13th Street, New York, Flagpole swim brief, $185, flagpolenyc.com. Set design, Heath Mattioli; hair, Lorenzo Martin; makeup, Mark Carrasquillo; manicure, Miwa Kobayashi. PHOTO: LACHLAN BAILEY FOR WSJ. MAGAZINE, STYLING BY GEORGE CORTINA

The newlyweds spent a couple of days honeymooning in Tuscany and Paris before she continued on to London alone. Falchuk serves as a sounding board—though “not if I need to talk about Ebitda,” she says, laughing at her CEO-speak for the measure of company profitability. He has appeared on the cover of her magazine as well as in the pages of her next cookbook, The Clean Plate, out in January. (Paltrow’s books sell well enough that Goop now has its own imprint at Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group.) “I bit off a lot—I’m trying to chew through it every day,” she says.

Paltrow has a tight circle she reaches out to for advice, including a business coach, Albert Lee, whom she speaks to regularly, and uses tricks like turning off her phone in meetings to focus. Her “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” mentor is Disney ’s Bob Iger. Getting to Oprah is no problem, but there is one person she can’t reach: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. “I’ve emailed him,” she says. “He won’t email back.” (A spokesperson for Bezos declined to comment.)

Paltrow has been experimenting with pulling away from some aspects of the business, such as G. Label clothing, which she models less often these days, or fronting the Goop podcast. She still test-drives nearly every product sold, and a recent board meeting was held at her Amagansett home. Finding a balance is a struggle. “How can the brand stand on its own two feet so that it’s genuinely scalable and I’m a good asset?” she asks herself. Her goal, she says, is to have what she calls a global “heritage” lifestyle brand.

“Part of me thinks it’s good for Goop that I also am still Gwyneth Paltrow, you know?” she says. She’s a spokesmodel for the beauty products, since, as she points out, she has been hired to do the same for other brands. “Over time, it would be great if somebody else could do that, especially since, you know, I’m not like a 20-year-old.”

In the meantime, she is trying to enjoy the ride. “In one way you think, Oh, my God. I hit the freaking jackpot. I won the lottery. I get to be this person, and that served as a platform for me to start my business and to have all this incredible access to amazing people and artists and designers, and I’ve had such a fascinating life,” she says. “And then on the other hand, you get old and a little grumpy and you just want to kind of be a hermit.”

But Paltrow is not one to take her foot off the gas. “I’m here one f—ing time. I want an incredible life,” she says. “I used to be in my trailer, smoking a cigarette and waiting for Ethan Hawke to open the door. Now look at me.” •

‘Oh, my God. I hit the freaking jackpot. I won the lottery.’ **** right :eek:

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cute title

cracking up…

03 FEBRUARY 2019
Cracking the truth on vaginal eggs
A stone egg inserted into the vagina is believed to provide a series of health benefits.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop to pay $145k over vaginal egg claims

Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle website Goop has agreed to pay $145,000 over its claims about vaginal eggs, after the California Food, Drug, and Medical Device Task Force filed a complaint against the company.


Vaginal eggs may not be all they’re cracked up to be.

Love eggs, yoni eggs, jade eggs, vaginal jade eggs… There are even more names for the device than there are benefits.

These eggs are made from a variety of materials; however, the most common are smoothed rose quartz, black obsidian or nephrite jade.

These stones are believed to strengthen vaginal muscles, increase libido, enhance feminine energy, improve physical appearance and prevent and alleviate uterine prolapse.

In order to reap these health benefits, the egg needs to be inserted into the vagina.

In an interview with Womens Health, medical doctor and sexologist Dr Elna Rudolph states that the egg should only be inserted for about 15 to 20 minutes at a time. I wouldnt advise anybody wear one 24/7 you need to relax your pelvic floor at times.

Loud criticism

Over the last year, the love egg has come under scrutiny and a lot of criticism after Goop, the affluent lifestyle site owned by actress Gwyneth Paltrow, published an article praising the incredible healing qualities of the stones.

The story, now removed from the site, stated that the stones can provide women with various vaginal health benefits.

Gynaecologists, however, emerged in droves to deny any health benefits attributed to the stone and claimed that there was no scientific evidence to back the claims made by the site.

In an interview with Health, gynaecologist Dr Jen Gunter warns that using these eggs can be really harmful, The stones are really porous, so Im not sure how they could be cleaned or sterilised between uses [Its] especially an issue when one of the recommended ways to use it is sleeping with it in. We don’t recommend that tampons or menstrual cups be left in for longer than 12 hours, and those are either disposable or cleanable."

Speaking to Vogue, physical therapist Stacey J Futterman Tauriello, who specialises in pelvic-floor rehabilitation, states, Saying that [a jade egg] can alleviate uterine prolapse is absurd. Prolapse is a laxity of ligaments. [Strengthening] the pelvic floor helps support those organs, but it doesnt change the structure of them.

Insufficient scientific evidence

Last month the Goop site had to settle a R2 075 000 lawsuit over the health benefits the site attributed to the egg. According to court documents, the claims about the egg made by the site were not backed with scientific evidence.

In a statement, Goop noted, This settlement does not indicate any liability on Goops part. While the company has not received any complaints regarding these product claims, it is happy to fully refund any Goop customer who has purchased any of the challenged products.

The vaginal jade eggs are still for sale on the lifestyle site.

Image credit: iStock
Lauren Mitchell

That being said, more people prolly know goop from this whole jade egg kerfuffle.

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She’s a delightful and sexy ignoramus. I’ll give her that. :smiley:

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[QUOTE=David Jamieson;1312871]She’s a delightful and sexy ignoramus. I’ll give her that. :D[/QUOTE]

That stuff sells! Images:D Illusion:D Hollywood affiliation (on some levels):smiley: etc all work within the marketing and capitalistic world of imagination and self congratulatory praise:confused:

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Ibogaine

From jade eggs to ibogaine. Gwyneth gots GOOP going on… :eek:

Gwyneth Paltrow Says Psychedelics Are The Next Wellness Craze — & She’s Not Wrong
CORY STIEG
MARCH 6, 2019, 12:15 PM


PHOTO: PHILLIP FARAONE/GETTY IMAGES.
Usually, when Gwyneth Paltrow says something wildly inaccurate about health or wellness on goop, a chorus of “actually’s” reverberates throughout the internet. But in a new interview with The New York Times, the actress and CEO addressed the dangerous pseudoscientific advice that occasionally appears on goop, explaining that it’s never meant to be prescriptive. “Somehow gets translated into, ‘Gwyneth says you should do this,’” she told The New York Times.
When asked what she sees as the “next big thing” in wellness, Paltrow gave a surprising answer: “I think how psychedelics affect health and mental health and addiction will come more into the mainstream,” she said. After clarifying that she had never personally used psychedelics before, she said, “I mean there’s undeniably some link between being in that state and being connected to some other universal cosmic something.” As it turns out, she might be onto something.
Just like Paltrow didn’t invent yoga, she also didn’t invent psychedelic drugs. Since the 1960s, people have contested their use for treating depression and anxiety. But promising new research suggests that using psychedelic drugs such as LSD, MDMA, psilocybin (aka “mushrooms”), and ayahuasca, in conjunction with psychotherapy can improve symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). This is still an emerging field, but is gaining mainstream attention from people looking for an alternative to antidepressants. Just yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a nasal spray that contains ketamine, an anesthetic drug that goes by the name “Special K,” and can be used to treat depression.
So, yeah, psychedelics might be the “big new thing” that Paltrow described. In The New York Times interview, she named “ibogaine, that shrub from Gabon” as one she had heard of. Ibogaine is a powerful psychedelic drug that occurs naturally in West Africa, and is used in rituals and healing ceremonies. However, ibogaine may significantly reduce withdrawal from opiates and even eliminate substance-related cravings, according to MAPS. For this reason, there’s a lot of interest in researching how ibogaine can be used treat the opioid epidemic.
Paltrow’s summation about psychedelics connecting people to a larger “cosmic something” isn’t that off, either. Using hallucinogens, experts believe, helps people develop greater “levels of spirituality,” which researchers believe improves emotional stability, and reduces symptoms of anxiety, depression, and disordered eating. There’s also a more physiological change that takes place: Hallucinogenic drugs re-structure the function of neurons in the brain, which essentially “repairs” circuits that may malfunction in a person with anxiety or mood disorders, according to a 2018 study.
Whether or not this is exactly what Paltrow was referring to in the interview remains to be seen (on goop, likely). So, while this might seem like one more far-out thing she’s promoting, it’s worth knowing that it’s kind of legit.

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imposter

How Gwyneth Paltrow got over her impostor syndrome and embraced being a CEO
Poppy Harlow
By Poppy Harlow, CNN
Updated 3:35 PM ET, Mon April 1, 2019

It’s rare for a CEO to admit to feeling like an impostor, but Gwyneth Paltrow embraces it.

The Founder and CEO of Goop, a lifestyle content and retail website, says the learning curve has been steep.

“The provenance of how I got here — it’s unusual, and I didn’t finish college. I don’t have an MBA … I had no business starting a business,” she told CNN during a Boss Files interview at the SXSW festival. “So I’ve had to really, really learn on the job.”
Paltrow has said her U-turn from Oscar-winning actress to C-suite executive has made her the most fulfilled she has ever been.
“I have this incredible company and I love my role, I love my team,” she said. “I feel like I have a lot of agency and I feel so thrilled by all the challenges and so excited by how much there is to learn every day.”
Today, the privately-held Goop places its valuation at roughly $250 million. But Paltrow admits that even now, more than 10 years after founding the company in her kitchen, she still has a lot to learn.
“There are still days where something comes across my desk and I think, I don’t know what I don’t know about this. That is the scariest thing for me,” she said.
But unlike many of her peers in the C-suite, she says she’s not afraid to ask questions others may view as “dumb.”
“I was really afraid to ask dumb questions in the beginning, especially with the acronyms … I’d be in a meeting Googling 'What is a SAS business?..What is AUR? Wait, why is that different from an AOV?” Frustrated, she said, she’d finally just blurt out the question to her team.
This reformed ‘club rat’ has raised millions for clean water projects
Paltrow now credits much of her success in the business world to that vulnerability and sense of self-awareness. “It’s scary until you decide asking questions is not a measure of lack of intelligence,” she said. “You might be ignorant about something, and the way to cure that is to ask the question.”
Paltrow’s road as a leader has been long, and not without controversy. Last year, Goop settled with the California District Attorney’s office over “unsubstantiated claims” related to two products sold on the Goop website.


Poppy Harlow interviews Gwyneth Paltrow at the SXSW festival in Austin.

Paltrow says there were “no customer complaints ever” about the items, and says the experience has ultimately made Goop a stronger company.
“We were a young company and … We didn’t understand about compliance and regulations. We just thought we were writing a blog … It’s been an incredible lesson because also we came to understand the power of our influence.”
Another struggle she’s had along the way is giving people “difficult feedback,” which she says is a critical skill for a successful leader. “I think that’s harder for women somehow,” she says.
She says she’d like to see more “vulnerable” leaders in the business world, including more women.
“I think it’s part of how I strive to be as leader and empower the women that I work with, who will go off and be CEOs of their own companies one day,” Paltrow says. “I try to lead from this model of being an actual woman and harnessing all the great things that inherently come with being a woman.”
Asked what she thinks America would look like with more female leaders in business, she says, “Well I think we would have gotten a lot further than we’ve gotten so far.”

It boggles my mind how much she’s made slinging goop.

28

Image is definitely Everything! It goes a long way.
As a sometime yoga doer:confused: the simplicity of it is wonderful but when I look at the various yoga magazine and journals out there, I can see why some people may say it is just out of their league.

So much glitter has been added to a simple way of life that I am amazed at how this is seen as the real sttuff of being:D

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In Goop Health Summit

Jessica Alba, Olivia Wilde, Busy Philipps to Headline Gwyneth Paltrow’s In Goop Health Summit
2:57 PM PDT 4/4/2019 by Ericka Franklin


Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

The past five Goop summits (which have attracted actresses Demi Moore, Lake Bell and Meg Ryan) have all sold out.
On May 18, Gwyneth Paltrow’s “In Goop Health” summit will return for its third installment in Los Angeles with Jessica Alba (founder of The Honest Company), Busy Philipps (who hosts the late-night talk show Busy Tonight and spoke to THR earlier this month about self-care, the border crisis and style) and Olivia Wilde (who recently made her directorial debut with Booksmart). All three will chat with Paltrow about challenges, their comfort zone with the unfamiliar, and the mentorships and friendships that have helped to guide their careers.

The past five Goop summits (which have touched down in New York and Vancouver in addition to L.A.) have all sold out.

For Goop devotees who spend $4,500 for a Wellness Weekender Pass, the retreat will begin by checking in to Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica for a two-night stay, followed by an afternoon wellness workshop with Peter Crone (of the film documentary Heal), a VIP workout session and more. $1,000 all-access passes give ticket-holders entry to workshops and activities at the event site, which has yet to be announced. Tickets can be purchased now at Goop.com.

Kicking off with a fireside chat between Paltrow and New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert (Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love), the day will continue with a multitude of activations, which include trying out Julianne Hough’s dance-method workout, mind-focused talks on building boundaries with Instagram’s favorite spiritual writer Lalah Delia, intuition workshops, a skin-care class, and experiencing Somadome meditation pods, 24-karat ear seeds healing, exploring the Goop retail shop and more.

$4500? $1000? To rich for my blood, thanks. :o

30

Summit

I couldn’t even watch Gwyneth in Endgame. The fact that she’s making so much bank off GOOP completely compromises her as an actor for me.

MAY 20, 2019 5:47PM PT[URL=“https://variety.com/2019/film/news/gwyneth-paltrow-goop-summit-1203221787/”]
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Summit Proves Hollywood Retirement Is Working for Her
By MATT DONNELLY
Senior Film Writer
@MattDonnelly


CREDIT: COURTESY OF GOOP

Across the country on Saturday, movie theaters sold over $12 million in tickets to “Avengers: Endgame,” helping it amass $771 million in the U.S. since its release in April.

On the same day, in a stunning urban greenhouse complex in DTLA, the film’s supporting star Gwyneth Paltrow counted tickets of her own — pricey, perk-loaded passes to the third annual Los Angeles In Goop Health Summit.

Paltrow’s 11-year-old lifestyle and wellness empire is her sole full time job, the Oscar winner confirmed to Variety in February, as she’s resigned her Marvel Universe gig as Iron Man’s better half Pepper Potts.

Instead of giving sound bites about getting red carpet ready or reflecting on Marvel’s remarkable 22-film run, Paltrow sipped a collagen-infused punch and nibbled a quinoa breakfast porridge before hundreds of pristine Goop devotees. This was just before a healing sound bath came ahead of opening remarks, set to the vibrations of plants transmitted through proprietary tech.

An entire campus of experiences awaited the summit, like a workshop on cultivating happiness with optimism doctor (trademarked, by the way) Deepika Chopra in a space called the intuition studio. The food studio held advice from Goop health editors and the company’s new podcast host, chef Seamus Mullen. The beauty studio provided stations that taught attendees how to properly massage the face to contour the cheekbone, stimulate the scalp for hair growth and volume, and use aromatherapy to balance genetic and autoimmune conditions.

If this is Paltrow’s new set, she’s a mix between executive producer, studio head and well-placed megastar cameo. She also has a sense of humor about it.

“Don’t worry, the group vaginal steam is optional,” she joked in her opening remarks before unleashing the overwhelmingly female population on the summit. Anchored at the top of the entire space was Goop Hall, a retail epicenter where users could buy everything from her eponymous sportswear line to sex dust to restored farm tables. Food was everywhere: organic crudites from Lady and Larder; Kreation wellness shots in glass bottles; Pitfire Pizza made with vegan cashew mozzarella. We saw one chicken breast, served over a kale caesar salad with cabbage and heirloom tomato.

Traces of her old life were present, like her recruiting of Kevin Smith to share his heart attack ordeal on a breakout panel with Mullen and his “Goopfellas” podcast co-host Dr. Will Cole. Between f-bombs, Smith said he shed serious weight through diet and the help of his daughter, actress Harley Quinn Smith. Veganism ultimately did the trick, after many false starts like the potato diet (which is exactly what you think it is).

“The first day was amazing, I ate like nine potatoes. But then I realized I actually hate potatoes, I liked the butter and salt that made mashed potatoes.” Through dramatic portion control, he took off 70 pounds and added years to his life, he said.

Transformation is a key component of Goop’s sales pitch — and it was thoroughly explored in the “evening fireside” conversation that closed the event. Paltrow convened a panel of Hollywood women including Taraji P. Henson, Olivia Wilde, Jessica Alba and former talk show host Busy Philipps for a conversation about pivoting.

“When I look at you all, I think of you as trailblazers. Women who are brave enough to take their initial career, turn it into a platform and do things that change the world,” Paltrow said.

Philipps discussed sharing her personal abortion experience on E!’s since-ended “Busy Tonight,” and tapping into an unacknowledged community of women. Alba expounded on the necessities that led to her toxin-free range of baby, household and beauty products via The Honest Company, while Henson explored the deep sitgma-removing work and “conversation starting” she has done around mental health and the black community through a foundation named for her father Boris Henson. Wilde shared her journey to her upcoming feature directorial debut, “Booksmart,” a rarity for women in Hollywood.

“I had a lot of insecurity about not having gone to film school. I thought, without going to film school, how do I have the right? This happens to be a uniquely female trait. Men don’t think a lot about whether they have the right,” Wilde told the crowd.

“[I realized] my film school has been shadowing these great directors I’ve had a chance to work for. So I got over that,” she said.

After evening cocktails (botanical vodka, courtesy of Ketel One), guests shuffled out past a giant refrigerator stocked with kombucha, boxed alkaline water and matcha lemonade. Beneath the Goop logo was a sign urging: “Help yourself.” As if the day was about anything else.

31

Vagenda

Put Away The Jade Eggs And Garlic: This Doctor’s ‘Vagina Bible’ Separates Fact From Fiction
46:44
Play
August 29, 2019


In her new book, “The Vagina Bible,” OB-GYN and New York Times columnist Dr. Jen Gunter separates myth from medicine about womens bodies. (Courtesy Jason LeCras)

Editor’s note: A gentle warning to listeners across the country, this hour will address mature subject matter.

OB-GYN and New York Times columnist Dr. Jen Gunter advises her patients and her hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers to put away the jade eggs, the garlic, and to stop listening to Gwyneth Paltrow. In her funny, fact-based book, Gunter separates myth from medicine about womens bodies.

Guest
Dr. Jen Gunter, obstetrician and gynecologist. Author of “The Vagina Bible” and columnist for The New York Times. (@DrJenGunter)

From The Reading List
Excerpt from “The Vagina Bible” by Jen Gunter

Introduction

Get highlights, extras and notes from the hosts sent to your inbox each week with On Point’s newsletter. Subscribe here.

I HAVE A VAGENDA: for every woman to be empowered with accurate information about the vagina and vulva.

One of the core tenets of medicine is informed consent. We doctors provide information about risks and benefits and then, armed with that information, our patients make choices that work for their bodies. This only works when the information is accurate and unbiased. Finding this kind of data can be challenging, as we have quickly passed through the age of information and seem to be stalled in the age of misinformation.

Snake oil and the lure of a quick fix have been around for a long time, and so false, fantastical medical claims are nothing new. However, sorting myth from medicine is getting harder and harder.

In addition to social media feeds that constantly display medical mes saging of variable quality, there are the demands of a headline-driven news cycle that constantly requires new content-even when it doesn’t exist. With women’s bodies, there are even more forces of misdirection at work. Pseudoscience and those who peddle it are invested in misinformation, but so is the patriarchy.

Obsessions with reproductive tract purity and cleansing date back to a time when a woman’s worth was measured by her virginity and how many children she might bear. A vagina and uterus were currency. Playing on these fears awakens something visceral. It’s no wonder the words pure, "natural, and clean are used so often to market products to women.

Members of the media and celebrity influencers tap into these fears with articles about and products to prevent vaginal mayhem, as if the vagina (which evolved to stretch and tear to deliver a baby long before suture material was invented) is somehow so fragile that it is constantly in a state of near catastrophe.

Why The Vagina Bible instead of The Vagina and Vulva Bible? Because that is how we collectively talk about the lower reproductive tract (the vagina and vulva). Medically, the vagina is only the inside, but language evolves and words take on new meaning. For example, “catfish” and “text” both have additional meanings that I could never have imagined when I was growing up. Gut is from the Old English for the intestinal tract, usu ally meaning the lower part (from the stomach on down) but not always. It’s actually a very imprecise term; yet it has been embraced by the medical community and is even the name of a leading journal dedicated to the study of the alimentary (digestive) tract, the liver, biliary tree, and pancreas.

I have been in medicine for thirty-three years, and I’ve been a gynecologist for twenty-four of them. I’ve listened to a lot of women, and I know the questions they ask as well as the ones they want to ask but don’t quite know how.

The Vagina Bible is everything I want women to know about their vulvas and vaginas. It is my answer to every woman who has listened to me pass on information in the office or online and then wondered, How did I not know this?

You can read the book in order from front to back or visit specific chapters or even sections as they speak to you. It’s all good! I hope over the years many pages will become worn as you go back to double-check what a doctor told you in the office, to research a product that makes wild claims about improving vaginas and vulvas, or help a friend or sexual partner out with an anatomy lesson.

Misinforming women about their bodies serves no one. And I’m here to help end it.

From the book THE VAGINA BIBLE by Jen Gunter. Copyright © 2019 by Jen Gunter. Excerpted with permission by Kensington Publishing Corp.

New York Times: “Your Vagina Is Terrific (and Everyone Elses Opinions Still Are Not)” "When I was in my 20s and already a doctor, I still let my sexual partners believe they were the experts in female anatomy, despite the fact that I was studying to be an OB/GYN. These men would tell me things that were untrue and I would count ceiling tiles while they fumbled around in the wrong ZIP code, if you know what I mean.

"Instead of correcting them, I just nodded and faked my share of orgasms because I prioritized men feeling comfortable over my own sexual pleasure.

"Its enraging that faking orgasms to satisfy a mans sexual script has not been confined to the trash heap of bad history. Studies tell us that up to 67 percent of women who have experienced penile-vaginal intercourse have faked orgasms. All for reasons painfully familiar to me: not wanting to hurt my male partners feelings, knowing I wont be listened to, feeding his ego or simply wanting the sex to end.

“We rarely talk openly about whats required for a woman to have a good sexual experience, and so many heterosexual women learn the mechanics of sex and female orgasms from movies (most of which are written, directed and produced by … men). What I like to call the three-strokes-of-penetration-bite-your-lip-arch-the-back-and-moan routine.”

Washington Post: “Gwyneth Paltrows Goop touted the benefits of putting a jade egg in your vagina. Now it must pay.” "We need to talk about Gwyneth Paltrow’s vaginal eggs. Again.

"For the uninitiated, these are the egg-shaped jade or quartz stones sold through Goop, Paltrow’s new-age wellness company and lifestyle brand. Per Goop, women are supposed to insert said eggs into their vaginas and keep them there for varying periods of time, sometimes overnight to ‘get better connected to the power within.’

"For $66, one can buy a dark nephrite jade egg, which allegedly brings increased sexual energy and pleasure. Or, for $55, there is the ‘heart-activating’ rose quartz egg, for those who want more positive energy and love. Until recently, a page on Goop’s website promised that the eggs would ‘increase vaginal muscle tone, hormonal balance, and feminine energy in general.’

"Those claims were, well, a stretch, with no grounding in real science, according to a consumer protection lawsuit filed by state prosecutors representing 10 California counties. On Wednesday, state officials and Goop announced that they had settled the suit, with Paltrow’s company agreeing to pay $145,000 in civil penalties.

"Specifically, the suit called out Goop’s jade egg, its rose quartz egg and its ‘Inner Judge Flower Essence Blend’ as products ‘whose advertised medical claims were not supported by competent and reliable science,’ according to the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office. For example, the flower essence blend had been marketed as a blend of essential oils that could ward off depression.

“And the jade eggs? They had developed a reputation and a backlash of their own.”
Grace Tatter produced this hour for broadcast.

This program aired on August 29, 2019.

THREADS
Jade Egg
Gwyneth & Goop

32

Gwyneth is a ridiculously good looking person.

33

coming to my hood

“O.G. Goop” Marianne Williamson Will Join Gwyneth Paltrow at San Francisco Summit
1:09 PM PDT 10/3/2019 by Ingrid Schmidt , Nadia Neophytou


ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images; Jesse Grant/Getty Images
Goop CEO Gwyneth Paltrow and author/presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.

“In many ways, Marianne Williamson is O.G. Goop,” Goop CCO Elise Loehnen told The Hollywood Reporter, while another spokesperson added that Paltrow is a “huge fan” but isn’t “making any political endorsements.”

It is finally happening. By far the Goop-iest 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, author Marianne Williamson (a self-described “***** for God”) and actress/Goop CEO Gwyneth Paltrow (whose company has referred to Williamson as a “spiritual legend”) are having a public meeting of the minds next month.

On Thursday, Goop announced that Paltrow and chief content officer Elise Loehnen will be hosting a fireside chat with Williamson on Nov. 16 as the highlight of the first In Goop Health Summit to be held in San Francisco, accompanied by the opening of a permanent San Francisco brick-and-mortar Goop Lab store.

While Williamson is currently running near the bottom of the pack in the polls, and has yet to secure a place in the upcoming Oct. 15 and November debates, maybe her pairing with Paltrow will help her gain traction. What better antidote to the country’s spiritual deterioration than Goop-ification to go hand in hand with Williamson’s philosophies, as outlined in her book, Politics of Love?

While Paltrow would not comment to The Hollywood Reporter on her political leanings or on her forthcoming chat with Williamson, a Goop spokesperson told THR that “Goop/GP aren’t making any political endorsements,” adding that “GP is a huge fan, so this is an extension of that.”

Loehnen told THR: “In many ways, Marianne Williamson is O.G. Goop: She’s been beating a spiritual trail for decades and leading a global discourse on how we’re all connected to each other, to the planet, and to the universal force of love. She is venerated not only for her clarity around the courageness required to move societies forward, but her willingness to step into the middle of difficult and triggering conversations and blast the fog of fear away to reveal the higher, though not always easier, path.”


Courtesy of Goop
Goop chief content officer Elise Loehnen and Marianne Williamson.

Last July, Goop released a Podcast with Williamson, titled “Who Are You In Crisis?” And the introduction on the site says, “Williamson urges for compassionate resistance, real maturity, and a greater understanding of the dichotomy that is built into the DNA of America. Her insight into crises — and the people she sees us becoming on the other side of it — lights a fire.”

As at previous summits, there will be a mix of panels and workshops that explore the philosophies and products touted by Paltrow’s wellness company, including a retail hall with a “wellness boutique” and “clean beauty apothecary.” Workshops and activities will be held in six spaces themed Think, Glow, Move, Restore, Feel and Reinvent. The day will zero in on “issue-focused talks with leading doctors, scientists, entrepreneurs and boundary-pushing celebrities,” according to a press statement, as well as wellness sessions, from dreamwork to trampoline bounce classes.

Some of the pros confirmed so far include palliative care specialist (and Oprah favorite) BJ Miller and Paltrow’s facialist Anastasia Achillos. Sophia Bush will join the likes of mindfulness and compassion expert Shauna Shapiro and the environmental author Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of John F. Kennedy.

Tickets for the day-long symposium, $1,000, are available starting today at goop.com.

After hosting a number of pop-ups in the past couple of years in the Bay Area (where the company is reported to have its fourth-most engaged market), Paltrow’s lifestyle brand will open the doors of a permanent Goop Lab at 2121 Fillmore Street in November, around the same time as the Goop summit. New York-based architecture and design firm Ronen Lev is designing the 1,500-square-foot space, which will be the company’s fifth permanent location, joining Los Angeles, New York, London and a space at Montecito’s Rosewood Miramar Beach hotel.

Bay Area shoppers can expect the curated boutique to be stocked with luxury products (a mix of Goop branded merchandise and other labels) including clothing, accessories, beauty items, gifts and homewares.

INGRID SCHMIDT
Ingrid.Schmidt@thr.com
IngridSchmidt_

NADIA NEOPHYTOU
THRnews@thr.com
@thr

O.G. Goop. :stuck_out_tongue:

$1000 is way to rich for my blood. :o

I wonder if there are press passes. I’d interview Gwyneth in a heartbeat. We could discuss Jade Eggs. :smiley:

34

Elle

Gwyneth Paltrow Is Not Going to Read This Story
BY MOLLY LANGMUIR
OCT 9, 2019


Jacket, $5,350, swimsuit, $1,550, bracelets,$1,900 each, all, Chanel. Her own rings.
ZOEY GROSSMAN

All of this started with Gwyneth Paltrow hearing from Brad Falchukthe producer, writer, and director who is also, as of last fall, her husbandthat shed influenced a character in a Netflix series he was working on. Then it went to, Ive written this part for you. Would you consider doing it? she says. Many actresses would have leaped at the chance. The show, The Politician, was created by Ryan Murphy, with whom Falchuk often collaborates (they cocreated Glee and American Horror Story), and is a dark comedy about class, privilege, and flawed, self-interested people who nonetheless try their best to do good. More specifically, it focuses on a young man, Payton (Ben Platt), driven by a strain of ambition so potent it could fuel a rocket ship; the first season follows his campaign to become high school president, which is part one of his plan to inhabit the White House. Paltrow was being asked to play his mother. I said, No, she says. You know theres no way I can do it.

In 1999, Paltrow won an Academy Award for her role in Shakespeare in Love, and soon after became one of the biggest movie stars in the world. But she began to pull back from Hollywood once she became a mother in 2004 (she now has two childrena daughter, Apple, and son, Moseswith Coldplay singer Chris Martin, from whom she famously consciously uncoupled in 2014). In recent years, she has focused most of her attention on her wellness company, Goop, which began in 2008 as a newsletter she sent from her kitchen and is now a vast enterprise. The company has faced controversya piece suggesting women could benefit from placing a jade egg in their vagina, for example, prompted disapproving statements from gynecologists (Goop now tags certain posts Fascinating and Inexplicable)but its been a huge financial success. As of 2018, it was worth $250 million, and Paltrow suggests its subsequently expanded beyond that. Thats an old number, she says. Is it higher or lower? Of course its higher, she says. Thank goodness. Oh my God.


Bodysuit, G. Label. Necklace, Tiffany & Co.
ZOEY GROSSMAN

Since 2015, other than a brief cameo on a TV show, Paltrow has only appeared onscreen as Pepper Potts, the romantic foil to Robert Downey Jr.s Iron Man in Marvels ever-expanding universe. Her difficulty keeping track of which Marvel movies shes in has been a much-repeated joke on the internet, though Paltrow doesnt seem to be aware of this. I never read stuff, she says. But it is confusing because there are so many Marvel movies, and to be honest, I havent seen very many of them. Its really stupid and Im sorry, but Im a 47-year-old mother.

Regarding The Politician, though, Falchuk and Murphy were persistentLike a dog with a bone, Paltrow says. The production agreed to work around her schedule, and it helped that Falchuk cut some of her lines.Shed show me a giant chunk of her dialogue and be like, I have a board meeting in two days. Please dont make me do this, he says. (Platt describes the rapport between Paltrow and Falchuk, who met on the set of Glee back in 2010, as being like Cinderella and Prince Charming. Paltrow does say Falchuk bossed her around; when I mention this to him, he says, Well, thats my job. And I think she liked it.) She was like, Of course, I got roped into it, says Paltrows friend Cameron Diaz, leaning hard into the r. Its very funny. But she can do 4 million things at once. (On set, Paltrow often met with Goop staffers in her downtime.)


Suspender trousers, Giorgio Armani. Bracelets, rings, all Cartier
ZOEY GROSSMAN

Paltrow first appears about halfway through the first episode, wearing an emerald-green caftan and 10 million dollars worth of jewelry, and dropping tidbits of advice that could be straight out of a self-help book. In another scene, after Payton has been hospitalized, she places crystals by his head and brings in a healer. Her character can seem, in other words, like a satirical take on the public perception of Paltrow; that shes viewed this way amuses and frustrates people close to her. Anybody who thinks that someone as successful as Gwyneth has just been floating around in caftans all day is just being rude, says her friend Kate Hudson, who adds, Im way more like that than GwynethI really do throw crystals around.

But Falchuk and Paltrow both insist that skewering these projections wasnt their intention. The way [my character is] as a mother is most closely based on me, Paltrow says. He was also borrowing from other aspects of my life. One plot point, for example, involves wealthy parents paying for their children to get into the Ivy League (oddly enough, it was written before the college admissions scandal emerged this past March). Im familiar with that world, she explains.

The Politician is concerned with ambitionwhat it means to be driven by it, how it can distort you. Paltrow says that as an actress, she never felt that ambitious, though this was as much for systemic reasons as it was for personal ones. In the 90s, when I was coming up, it was a very male-dominated field, she says. You used to hear, That actress is so ambitious, like it was a dirty word. (Paltrow was an early and essential source on Harvey Weinstein for the New York Times.) But now, with Goop, my ambition has been unleashed, she admits.

That Paltrow is more concerned with business these days than with acting would never be apparent from her turn in The Politician, though. The reaction of most people in our lives who have seen the show is, Screw you for not doing this more, Falchuk says. Seeing her quiet elegance and how she can command a room was a reminder that she is a bona fide screen presence, Platt says. She exudes light.


Dress by Ralph Lauren Collection. Earrings and bracelets by Tiffany & Co. Her own rings.
ZOEY GROSSMAN

Styled by Charles Varenne. Hair by Anh Co Tran at The Wall Group; makeup by Jillian Dempsey at SWA. Manicure by Ashlie Johnson at The Wall Group; produced by Michelle Hynek at Crawford & Co Productions.

This article appears in the November 2019 issue of ELLE, on newsstands October 22.

MOLLY LANGMUIR
Molly Langmuir is a staff writer for ELLE.

[QUOTE=David Jamieson;1315581]Gwyneth is a ridiculously good looking person.[/QUOTE]
This repost is for you David. Especially that third B&W pic. Always looking out for ya, old friend. :wink:

35

Gwyneth is just toying with her customers now

JANUARY 10TH, 2020
Gywneth Paltrow Is Selling A Candle That Smells Like Her Vagina
By Amanda Prestigiacomo
DailyWire.com


Rich Fury/Getty Images for Girlboss

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is selling a candle that smells like her vagina at $75 a pop for her lifestyle and wellness company Goop. The name of the candle is none other than, you guessed it, “This Smells Like My Vagina.”

Paltrow first came across a scent that she said reminded her of the smell of her own vagina, she claims. The scent was then finalized for the “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle, which reportedly sold out within hours of its test run.

“This candle started as a joke between perfumer Douglas Little and GP — the two were working on a fragrance, and she blurted out, ‘Uhhh … this smells like a vagina,'” Goop outlined.

The smell then “evolved into a funny, gorgeous, sexy, and beautifully unexpected scent,” according to the company.

“That turned out to be perfect as a candle — we did a test run … and it sold out within hours,” Goop bragged. “It’s a blend of geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and ambrette seed that puts us in mind of fantasy, seduction, and a sophisticated warmth.”

Goop, clearly, is not a traditional brand. In 2018, for example, the wellness company settled a six-figure lawsuit surrounding their “vagina eggs,” which were promoted to help regulate females’ hormones and negate menstrual cramps.

“It turns out, contrary to Goop’s advice, shoving a large egg made out of a porous mineral into the recesses of your lady-regions may not be the best treatment for conditions like endometriosis,” The Daily Wire reported. “Apparently, Goop knew — or, according to a complaint filed by the California consumer protection office, Goop should have known before they marketed this product, as well as a ‘flower essence’ they claimed treated depression, to consumers on their website.”

“The health and money of Santa Clara County residents should never be put at risk by misleading advertising,” the attorney for the California consumer protection office said in a statement. “We will vigilantly protect consumers against companies that promise health benefits without the support of good science … or any science.”

Paltrow again made headlines for her “progressive” ways last month, this time for gifting herself a ******** for Christmas.

The Daily Wire reported on the ad:

[QUOTE]After Gwyneth shakes herself up a couple of Martinis, the narrator says “someone’s double-fisting” as she struts through the kitchen with her libations.

“The holidays are work, so don’t be afraid to ask for help with lighting, and food, and style, and hair, and hair, and hair,” the narrator cheekily continues. “Find your favorite look, or eleven of them. Look fabulous in each one, and get super high… In your heels, of course.”

The ad then takes a salacious turn by reminding people to treat themselves to a little self-service, but only after doing “something for others.”

“Do something for others but don’t forget about No. 1,” the narrator says as Paltrow pulls a ******** from a Christmas stocking and keeps it for herself. “Yes, that is a ********.”

The ad finishes with the narrator wishing everyone a “happy holidays from G. Label.”
[/QUOTE]

This would make a great joke gift tho…if it wasn’t $75. For a candle. Gwyneth wtf?

THREADS
Gwyneth & Goop
Jade Egg

36

Goop Lab


The Goop Lab launches Jan. 24, 2020: it will likely be full of magical thinking and unproven health stories — making it a huge conflict of interest for Gwyneth Paltrow. (Shutterstock)

[URL=“https://theconversation.com/gwyneth-paltrows-new-goop-lab-is-an-infomercial-for-her-pseudoscience-business-129674”]
Gwyneth Paltrow’s new Goop Lab is an infomercial for her pseudoscience business
January 12, 2020 8.36am EST
Author
Timothy Caulfield
Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy; Professor, Faculty of Law and School of Public Health; and Research Director, Health Law Institute, University of Alberta

Disclosure statement
Timothy Caulfield receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome Canada, and the Canada Research Chairs Program. He is affiliated with Peacock Alley Entertainment and Speakers’ Spotlight. Caulfield also had a show, “A User’s Guide to Cheating Death”, that was on Netflix.

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Last week, Netflix dropped the trailer for Gwyneth Paltrow’s new show The Goop Lab. It is a six-episode docuseries launching on Jan. 24 that, according to the trailers, focuses on approaches to wellness that are “out there,” “unregulated” and “dangerous.” (Read: science-free.)

The backlash by health-care professionals and science advocates was immediate and widespread. And for good reason. As noted by my friend, obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Jen Gunter in Bustle magazine, the trailer is classic Goop: “Some fine information presented alongside unscientific, unproven, potentially harmful therapies….”

We know the spread of this kind of health misinformation can have a significant and detrimental impact on a range of health behaviours and beliefs. This is the age of misinformation and this show seems likely to add to the noise and public confusion about how to live a healthy lifestyle.

But what has been largely overlooked in the initial wave of critiques is the conflict-of-interest issue. The producers of this show — that is, Gwyneth Paltrow and her company Goop — benefit directly from not only the show being popular but also from the legitimization of pseudoscience. This show is, basically, an infomercial for the Goop brand, which is built around science-free products and ideas.

//youtu.be/MunlAm7IGsE

The Goop Lab trailer on Netflix. The show drops Jan. 24, 2020.

Marketing pseudoscience

To be fair, I have yet to see a full episode. But given the content of the trailer and Goop’s history of pushing harmful nonsense, there is little reason to be optimistic about the role of science in the series. Regardless, the mere existence of the series will allow Paltrow and Goop to build the brand, which is currently estimated to be worth US$250 million.

The show serves as an opportunity to market the kind of magical thinking and pseudoscience that will help to sell Goop’s products. It would be like Netflix streaming a show called The Coca-Cola Beverage Lab or the The Starbucks Coffee Adventure.

One of the things that attracts people to the alternative health practices pushed by entities like Goop is frustration with the impact of private industry and the profit motive — particularly in the context of the pharmaceutical industry — on the conventional health-care system.

This concern about the impact of industry is understandable. There is a vast literature highlighting industry misbehaviour and the adverse consequences of Big Pharma’s influence on research, clinical practice and clinical guidelines. Awareness of these issues has contributed to a decrease in trust in the medical profession and even to harmful trends like vaccination hesitancy.

For the advocates of alternative approaches to wellness, conventional medicine is often positioned as irrevocably compromised and corrupt. And many have come to believe even extreme versions of this narrative.

A 2014 survey found 37 per cent of Americans believe (and another 31 per cent think it could be true) that the “Food and Drug Administration is deliberately preventing the public from getting natural cures for cancer and other diseases because of pressure from drug companies.” Goop has also enabled these kinds of extreme perspectives.


The Goop Lab stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Elise Loehne. (Netflix)

Alternative medicine is an industry

The implication, of course, is that alternative approaches are somehow untainted or, at least, less tainted by vested interests and are, therefore, the better choice. But this “clean hands” framing is patently false.

First, we need to recognize that alternative medicine is also a huge industry. The worldwide “wellness” market, which is largely composed of unproven and “alternative” modalities, has been estimated to be worth over US$4 trillion.

The sale of herbal medicine and supplements are also multi-billion dollar industries. Given the size of these markets, it would be naive to believe that alternative medicine is somehow missing the twisting profit-motive incentives that have created problems for conventional health care.

Second, the alternative health community is also rife with conflicts and biases. To cite just a few examples, naturopaths profit from the in-office sale of products and have partnered with the vitamin industry to expand the reach of their practice.

In addition, alternative medicine research has been influenced by various systemic biases. And we shouldn’t forget that many of the most commonly used alternative products, most notably supplements and herbal remedies, are often made by the very pharmaceutical industry that alternative wellness devotees are seeking to avoid.

Third, motivated reasoning plays a big role here. When an individual or a company has built a profession or a business model around a particular worldview, this commitment will have an impact on how the relevant evidence is interpreted, used and presented to the public.

If you are a practising homeopath, for instance, it would be tremendously difficult to accept what the evidence says about the remedies you offer. Indeed, accepting the science would mean you would lose your livelihood and professional identity.

More needs to be done to combat the adverse impact that conflicts of interest issues can have on bio-medical research and clinical practice. But we also need to recognize that profound conflicts of interest exist in the alternative health and wellness domain. We should not give those involved with this industry — including Paltrow and Goop — a pass.

We let go of Netflix but if I still had it, I’d watch this. :wink:

37

Has anyone here watched Goop Lab?

I’m embarrasingly curious now, but I no longer have Netflix. :o

Goops Horrible Netflix Show Accidentally Makes a Case Against Social Media Censorship
By misidentifying parts of the anatomy she claims to be an expert on, actress and self-appointed lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow demonstrates the damage caused by censoring womens bodies.
By Jillian C. York
Feb 13 2020, 5:00am


NETFLIX

When Gwyneth Paltrows The Goop Lab premiered on Netflix last month, the collective eye-roll on social media was palpable.

GoopPaltrows wellness and lifestyle companyhas been rightly panned by critics over the years for promoting pseudoscientific claims and wellness devices that range from the absurd to the overtly harmful. The Goop Lab is no exception; one Washington Post op-ed called the series horrible, while the Guardian gave it 1/5 stars in a review.

Despite this, my curiosity got the best of me one night and I tuned in to watch the most talked-about episode: the one in which Paltrow misidentifies the scope of the vagina, revealing that shes not particularly informed about the anatomy she so often claims expertise on. The episode, entitled The Pleasure Is Ours, is centered on the work of 90 year-old sex educator Betty Dodson, famous for her workshops in which she teaches women how to effectively masturbate to orgasm.

The episode, which comes with a disclaimer, is not quite what I expected. Rather than peddling jade eggs, it sells the viewer on Dodsons methods (which have, for what its worth, been the subject of empirical research). And perhaps most surprisingly, the episode is quite graphic: Dodsons colleague Carlin Ross demonstrates the technique, her vulva shown on screen as she masturbates, along with several others in a slideshow meant to depict diversity.

What was surprising about this was Netflixs willingness to show, in close-up detail, a part of the body that iswith precious few exceptions verboten in Silicon Valley. As Ive written in the past, social media platforms appear to have taken their cues about morality and governance from other forms of media. Just as the American film industry is self-regulated by the notoriously prudish Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Facebooks own policies ban nearly all depictions of the nude human bodyregardless of the fact that its constitutionally-protected expression.

Facebook and its properties, such as Instagram, have a propensity to go overboard when enforcing these policies. Take, for example, The Vulva Gallerylike the sex episode of Goop Lab, the Instagram account seeks to normalize the vulva by posting illustrated images based on user-submitted photos. Illustrations are permitted by Instagrams Community Standards, but that didnt prevent the account from getting banned at one pointno doubt a mis-application of the rules, an unfortunately uncommon phenomenon.

In fact, the over-banning of sexual content is so common that there are numerous articles highlighting accounts that seek to challenge and circumvent the rules. While social media platforms often claim that bans on nudity are meant to protect users from porn and non-consensual exploitative imagery (often called revenge porn), we should be questioning the harms that this black-and-white approach to nudity and human sexuality is causing to our societyand to women in particular.

As The Goop Lab episode makes clear, many women (including Paltrow) dont know a whole lot about their own anatomy. In most societies, were taught that our nether regions are something shameful, to keep covered up, at least until were wed. While I clearly remember a high school sex ed demonstration that involved putting a condom on a banana, I cant recall seeing any images of womens nude bodies. Many women report seeing another vulva for the first time in mainstream porn, where only certain body types (and hair removal practices) are commonly shown.

Thats what makes this episode so importantand one of the reasons the pervasive social media ban on depictions of the human body is so damaging. But its not the only reason; platform bans on the human body disproportionately affect women. Facebooks community guidelines, for example, allow depictions of topless men but ban women from appearing shirtless. Not only does this discriminatory practice reinforce damaging ideas about the female body as inherently sexual, its also rooted in an outdated binary perception of gender.

No one has illustrated the latter point better than Courtney Demone, a trans woman who challenged Instagrams rules by posting topless photos of herself as she transitioned a few years ago and documented the process for Mashable. Demones piece draws parallels between the street harassment she was subject to as her appearance became more traditionally feminine and the loss of the privilege to be topless that she experiences, which she describes as a clear example of the sexism that comes with living in a female body.

Interestingly, as executive producer Shauna Minoprio told the LA Times, Goop execs chose to shoot the masturbation scene without asking permissionnot unlike the many women who regularly challenge social medias prudish rules by posting their nudes anyway.

In sexist Silicon Valley, that may just be the only way to move the needle forward.

38

Gwyneth responds

Just gonna put this out there right now…Gwyneth should go into politics next. She’s got the cash for the American oligarchy.

FEBRUARY 18, 2020 5:56PM PT[URL=“https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/gwyneth-paltrow-the-goop-lab-1203506864/”]
‘The Goop Lab’: Gwyneth Paltrow Talks Producing Unscripted TV, Her All-Star Staff and Online Haters
By MATT DONNELLY
Senior Film Writer
@MattDonnelly


CREDIT: ADAM ROSE/NETFLIX

Between a high-profile press tour, a vortex of online negativity and a raging conversation around female genitalia, it is likely you are aware that Gwyneth Paltrow launched a docuseries on Netflix in late January.

“The Goop Lab,” announced exclusively by Variety last year, is a six-episode manifestation of Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop and its many content verticals, built around a central thesis that the Oscar winner described as “optimization of self.”

Response has played out across the normal spectrum on which Paltrow and Goop are received: adoration from like-minded seekers, interest from fashion and film fans, and invective from trolls and pockets of the medical community. During a recent conversation at Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles, Paltrow had an easy smile for all of it. She’s been here before.

“I will never understand the level of fascination and projection. But we don’t want to not change the conversation just to please everybody,” Paltrow said. “We do what we do in total integrity, and we love what we do. It doesn’t even matter, really, that some are trying to get attention for writing about us.”

Indeed, in the days following Variety’s initial report last February, headlines declared the partnership between Paltrow and the streaming giant “a win for pseudo-science.” The almost-retired performer and CEO chalks it up to clickbait.

“That kind of media, a lot of it is dying. The business model is failing, and they’re turning to the tabloidization to get the clicks. So it works, when they write about me, apparently. Because they keep doing,” she said. Paltrow added she would be open to the criticism “if it was something I could learn from.” But when it comes to Goop-friendly topics like energy healing?

“[It] might not be backed with double-blind studies, but its been happening for thousands of years,” she said.

A lot of Goop’s experimentation involves already-familiar practices, as illustrated on the series and explored in-depth on Goop.com. Jumping into a freezing ocean to prolong life and stave off anxiety? Experimenting with psychedelics to ease PTSD? Acupuncture, for the love? Goop is not responsible for introducing any of these notions into the consciousness. What’s new here, at least for Paltrow, is the way she approached the medium — as an unscripted television producer, not a movie star.

“It’s so bizarre, and so different. Normally someone hands me something and tells me what I’m playing. This was from our imaginations and what inspires us, and what we hope to learn more about. It’s been a pretty cool experience,” Paltrow said. “The most difficult part was honing down what the six subjects were going to be. The trick was the process of distilling down our content and have all the topics be different enough.”

Outside of scripted features and television, Paltrow’s credits are limited. She has appeared in documentaries about makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin and designer Valentino Garavani, and more than a decade ago popped up on a PBS series about Spanish cooking.

“I’ve never done anything unscripted — like, how does this work? How does it feel good? How does it not be …” Paltrow asked, searching for the words.

Like “Jersey Shore,” we wondered?

“Right. What is this world? What is the construct?” she said. “The most difficult part was honing down what the six episode subjects were going to be. We wanted it to appeal to lots of different people. You can get really specific on a subject, and then it might not be as appealing.”

For the past five years, Paltrow has done a delicate dance with how much she will allow herself to be Goop’s preeminent spokeswoman. She has repeatedly said that her ideal version of scale would be to grow Goop past the point of her own image. Currently valued at $250 million with several rounds of venture capital investment, her high-wire act is working.

“For the show, I asked, ‘How can I be in it, but not too in it?’ It was important for me that Goop staffers be the stars of the show. We have such incredible people at the company. I thought there would be so much more impact to meet and love them, and watch them go through those things,” she said.

Go through it, they do. Goop employees explore their private parts and sexual hangups, insecurities around aging, parental traumas, and other topics that Goop chief content officer Elise Loehnen jokingly said amounted to “an HR nightmare.”

Netflix has yet to announce a possible renewal of “The Goop Lab,” but streaming or not, Goop will be there asking the questions, Paltrow said.

“What I think is great is that we are a brand that people feel strongly about,” she concluded. “One way or the other.”

39

slightly ot

What is up with female celebs making products that smell like their vagina? Will we need an indie thread on this?

Erykah Badu’s $50 vagina-scented incense sells out in minutes
The singer is proud of the urban legend surrounding her vagina and decided to use it as the base for her new product
By Blue Telusma -February 24, 2020

When Erykah Badu announced that she would be selling vagina scented incense, a lot of people raised their brows. But now that her product is a certified hit, she and her yoni inspired offering are laughing all the way to the bank.

At the beginning of the month, it was reported that one of the products that the four-time Grammy Award-winning Neo-Soul singer would be featuring in her online marketplace, Badu World Market, would be an incense scent based on her genitals.

“There’s an urban legend that my p—y changes men,” she said in a cover story for 10 Magazine. “The men that I fall in love with, and fall in love with me, change jobs and lives.”

The singer, who will be 49 years of age on the 26th, is proud of the urban legend surrounding her vagina and decided to use it as the base for her new product.

“I took lots of pairs of my panties, cut them up into little pieces and burned them,” she explained matter-of-factly. “Even the ash is part of it.”

40

I confess…I want Gwyneth’s mask.

Wearing a mask, Gwyneth Paltrow cracks a coronavirus joke: ‘I’ve already been in this movie’


Gwyneth Paltrow played patient zero of a viral epidemic in “Contagion.”(Claudette Barius / Warner Bros.)
By CHRISTIE D’ZURILLASTAFF WRITER
FEB. 26, 2020 12:02 PM

Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Hudson are among those locking it down in the air when it comes to the coronavirus. At least they think they are.

“En route to Paris. Paranoid? Prudent? Panicked? Placid? Pandemic? Propaganda? Paltrow’s just going to go ahead and sleep with this thing on the plane,” the Goop founder said on Instagram, where she posted a picture of herself on a flight wearing an appropriately stylish Airinum+Nemen mask.

“I’ve already been in this movie,” she said. “Stay safe. Don’t shake hands. Wash hands frequently.”

Paltrow was joking about her role in “Contagion,” the 2011 Steven Soderbergh film where she played a Midwestern woman who stops for a fling on her way from a business trip in Hong Kong, only to die soon after she gets home, much to movie-husband Matt Damon’s dismay. Her patient-zero affliction quickly turns into a global pandemic.

[QUOTE][URL=“https://www.instagram.com/p/B9BxGPqFfpw/?utm_source=ig_embed”]gwynethpaltrow
Verified
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gwynethpaltrow’s profile picture
gwynethpaltrow
Verified
En route to Paris. Paranoid? Prudent? Panicked? Placid? Pandemic? Propaganda? Paltrow’s just going to go ahead and sleep with this thing on the plane. I’ve already been in this movie. Stay safe. Don’t shake hands. Wash hands frequently.

Hudson, meanwhile, posted a shot of herself in what appears to be a surgical mask, tagging her picture with the caption, “Travel. 2020.”

Commenters were quick to note that her mask wouldn’t do much good when it came to protecting her from coronavirus. Frequent soap-and-water hand-washing, experts say, is a better preventative measure.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the role of such face masks is “patient source control,” to prevent contamination of the surrounding area when a person who has contracted the virus coughs or sneezes.

[URL=“https://www.instagram.com/p/B9AcCXAnVoH/?utm_source=ig_embed”]katehudson
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katehudson’s profile picture
katehudson
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Travel. 2020. #

Paltrow’s mask, however, was the equivalent of an N95-filtering facepiece respirator, the medical version of which, the CDC says, is recommended for healthcare professionals and could wind up in short supply in a pandemic.

Paltrow’s reusable, $99 limited edition Urban Air Mask 2.0 is currently sold out, along with everything else on the Airinum website, but the company has a wait list going. According to its maker, the mask “combines Scandinavian minimalist design with Italian textile and dyeing research,” neither of which has anything to do with virus transmission.

(Incidentally, the respirator appears to match the actress’ eye mask, which might be the same black silk one that’s available on the Goop website for $50.)

More seriously, the CDC has chimed in via Instagram as well.

“While #CDC considers #COVID19 a serious situation and is taking preparedness measures, the immediate health risk in the U.S. is thought to be low, based on what we know,” the government agency said. “Everyone should always take simple daily precautions to help prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses. Learn more at www.cdc.gov.”

[URL=“https://www.instagram.com/p/B86j151l3Ze/?utm_source=ig_embed”]cdcgov
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cdcgov’s profile picture
cdcgov
Verified
While #CDC considers #COVID19 a serious situation and is taking preparedness measures, the immediate health risk in the U.S. is thought to be low, based on what we know. Everyone should always take simple daily precautions to help prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses. Learn more at www.cdc.gov. #publichealth #coronavirus

Christie D’Zurilla
Christie D’Zurilla covers breaking entertainment news. A USC graduate, she joined the Los Angeles Times in 2003 and has 30 years of journalism experience in Southern California.[/QUOTE]

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