- Joined
- Oct 24, 2019
Conventional wisdom states that no one walks in Los Angeles. But if you see a lone willowy blonde strolling around the West Side, take a closer look. It might just be Gwyneth Paltrow. “Walking is my new thing,” Paltrow says. “My best mom friend out here is a real walker. She was living in Hong Kong with her banker husband, and I was in London with my musician husband, and we moved to L.A. after having been expats for a long time. She started taking me on walks.”
Not like picturesque strolls on the beach, but rambling hikes home from dinner, or ambles as breaks from the workday. It’s simple enough to sound like something people would parody about Paltrow: a woman who is trying to get somewhere even when she’s just relaxing.
Gwyneth Paltrow is someone people make fun of: She’s too out-there, too privileged, a modern Marie-Antoinette. But look closer and what you’ll find is a pioneer. Paltrow has spent more than a decade building one of the wellness industry’s most recognizable brands and driving home the idea to her millions of admirers (and, yes, a few trolls) that wellness is the new wealth—in her case, literally. In 2019 the wellness industry was worth $4.5 trillion globally, and Paltrow is poised to earn her fair share in 2020.
Just as Martha Stewart did when she launched an empire based on entertaining, Paltrow—who has been on the receiving end of Stewart’s ire—has inspired an army of lifestyle brand copycats, from Kate Hudson to Elle Macpherson and Julianne Hough. She has also earned the grudging respect of her industry. No less a critical authority than the New Yorker recently called The Goop Lab, Paltrow’s Netflix series, “great TV and genuinely educational.” At a time when health-related anxiety is so prevalent, is it the star of Contagion who might ultimately keep us calm?
People may say Paltrow, who has been accused of spreading misinformation, is out of touch, but, if anything, she’s in on the joke. “You just have to decide to be the weirdo walking,” she says with a kind of self-assurance that makes it seem as if plain old walking could be the one thing she’s doing differently from the rest of us.
She has to be doing something: Paltrow has a kind of golden glow, even with no makeup on and wearing an old Celine sweater and baggy jeans, sitting at a conference table in the Santa Monica offices of Goop, her lifestyle empire. Maybe it’s the nutritious spread of crudités and spicy cashew dip a member of the food team has brought in. Or the new GoopGlow vitamin C and hyaluronic acid serum she raves about. Perhaps I too could achieve everything she has if only I ate this way all the time, or walked that much. Or maybe not.
[This story went to press before the novel coronavirus pandemic shut down most of the global economy. This week, we asked Paltrow about what she's doing during this terrifying time. For the last few weeks, she and the Goop team have been supporting a variety of causes to help those affected by COVID 19. “I find that the best way to metabolize the fear that many of us feel during this time is through generosity," Paltrow told us. "There are numerous people risking their lives to ensure that we’re lucky enough to shelter in place, and they need us. The Frontline Responders Fund is dedicated to protecting those brave souls with necessary PPE gear, ensuring they too can come safely home to their families.” This week, Goop is also donating 25% of profits from their GOOPGLOW 20% Vitamin C & Hyaluronic Acid Glow Serum to the Frontline Responder’s Fund, as well as 25% of the profits of the G. Label outfit Paltrow wears in this story. You can find them all here. For more ways the Goop team is helping, head over to their site here.]
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