When Gywneth Paltrow isn't turning in performances as Pepper Potts in Marvel's "Iron Man" franchise she can be found managing her rather controversial lifestyle brand, Goop.
What started as a newsletter and evolved into a brand is now a quarterly magazine published by Conde Nast. Aptly named Goop like the brand, the premier issue of the magazine was released mid-September and sports, not surprisingly and much to the pleasure of our eyes, goopologist-in-chief Gwyneth Paltrow herself on the cover.
Mostly naked and covered in some sort of purifying (no doubt) full-body mud mask the cover proclaims, “Earth to Gwyneth”... seriously? Ah, yes indeed! And how true, in fact.
Because when Goop isn't selling allegedly misleading products that the nonprofit Truth In Advertising takes issue with, the Academy Award winner for Best Actress opines on some rather other-worldly treatments. Treatments that don't always have much sound scientific backing.
Gwyneth recommendations include out-of-this-world $6-a-piece space stickers, adhesives that "come pre-programmed to an ideal frequency, allowing them to target imbalances" when our bodies aren't at their "ideal energetic frequency". Say what?
She warns women that bras with underwire can cause cancer. And for just $28, you can get 3.4 ounces of Gwyneth's "gem-infused psychic vampire repellent." At the root of many of these therapies seems to be the fantastic thought that nearly all human illnesses are caused by antibiotics, ibuprofen, cesarean sections and, yes, those wily and wicked legumes! The hilarity of it all is palpable.
Will Paltrow be selling us her own poop in Goop next?
A story about a marathon runner who had to get a faecal transplant from her fat niece, and it made the marathon runner fat is combined with a study on how, in mice, faecal transplants have been found to make fat mice thin and anxious mice calm. I can only wonder how many fans would gladly consume a Gweneth poop pill, if only it would infuse them with her grace.
Manhattan Minds verdict is that, so long as Goop is not promising miracles and swapping snake oils for childhood vaccines, there's nothing wrong with organizing your inner life around crystals. While Gweneth's Goop is highly questionable, it is most ridiculously entertaining (if you can afford it.) And laughter is the ELIXIR of life! You will never get as many laughs reading the packaging off a box of L'Oreal. So, Goop it up and enjoy!