If you’re looking for gobbledy-goop, just ask Gwyneth
Actress dispenses lifestyle advice on personal website
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The contents of Gwyneth Paltrow's advice website have been dismissed as an unprecedented example of celebrity hubris
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She may boast a rockstar husband and successful Hollywood career, but Gwyneth Paltrow is learning the hard way that celebrity alone does not qualify you to dispense day-to-day advice to the hardpressed modern housewife.
The Oscar-winning actress, who is famed for her exotic exercise regime and macrobiotic lifestyle, is facing a fierce critical backlash after attempting to re-launch herself as a New Age version of America’s domestic guru, Martha Stewart, with a new lifestyle website called Goop. Yes Goop.
In it, she intends to dispense tips about food, exercise and parenting, together with humorous anecdotes from life on the frontline of showbusiness.
Yet despite Paltrow’s experience as both wife of the Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and mother of his children, Apple and Moses, the contents of her internet site haveprompted critics to dismiss the project as an unprecedented example of celebrity hubris. Some reviewers who have explored the site, www.goop.com, have been baffled by its motto, “nourish the inner aspect,” and bemused by a series of icons entitled “make”, “go”, “get”, “do”, “be” and “see” which take users to a statement containing Paltrow’s advice on how to “nourish what is real”.
The site’s name has prompted accusations of pomposity, while a feature that invites users to click on Paltrow’s autograph to sign up to a newsletter in which she offers advice on how to cook meals, go on holiday and take exercise has been widely ridiculed.
“Why is it called ‘Goop’?” asked Canada’s Globe And Mail. “Perhaps ‘Any Old Load of Rubbish’ and ‘Learn From Me, Ungrateful Peasant’ were both taken. In essence, Gwyneth would like to reach down from her aerie in north London and show you how to live, and shop, meaningfully.”
Even in Los Angeles, where exotic lifestyles like those of Paltrow and Martin – who are famously fond of yoga, maintain a strict vegetarian diet, and rarely let cheese, wheat or sugar pass their lips – are traditionally indulged, commentators described the site as “undernourished.”
“The road ahead looks bumpy for this little operation!” said the Los Angeles Times. “It’s not just that apparently no one wants to take life direction from the girl who has it all. There are also more basic technical problems, starting with the layout of the two-page site. It’s not clear why she bothered to put it up with so little content. It feels like something that won an award for Web design in 1998.”
Goop: Paltrow’s online insights
* My life is good because I am not passive about it. I want to nourish what is real, and I want to do it without wasting time ? I love being in spaces that are clean and feel nice.
* Over the years, I have tried lots of different things. I have made lots of mistakes. But I have figured some things out in the process and I would like to share them with you. Whether you want a good place to eat in London ?or some thoughts from one of my sages, Goop is a little bit of everything that makes up my life.
* Make your life good. Invest in what’s real. Cook a meal for someone you love. Pause before reacting. Clean out your space. Read something beautiful. Treat yourself to something.
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