Gwyneth Paltrow is one of the most famous actresses in Hollywood—or perhaps “celebrities” is a better word– but she also has a reputation for being a bit out of touch with reality. Some even call her a weirdo. She runs a lifestyle brand called Goop, which sells expensive and sometimes controversial products like jade eggs, vampire repellent, and psychic vampire spray. She also advocates for practices like vaginal steaming, bee sting therapy, and “conscious uncoupling”. Some people think she is a guru of wellness and self-care, while others think she is a scam artist and a snob.
In 2008, Paltrow’s lifestyle company agreed to pay $145,000 in civil penalties over products including egg-shaped stones that are meant to be inserted into the vagina to improve health. This came after a task-force investigation found some of Goop’s health claims were unfounded.
But what does Gwyneth Paltrow really want in life? In a recent interview with Bustle, she revealed that she wants to disappear from the public eye and live a more private life. She said that she feels exhausted by the constant scrutiny and criticism that comes with being a celebrity, and that she wants to focus on her family and her personal growth. Years ago, she made a similar seismic shift in her life when she virtually stopped making movies in order to focus on developing her entrepreneurial projects, such as Goop.
Now she has said that she doesn’t care about fame or money anymore, and that she wants to find her true self.
Paltrow admits that she is “not ready to sell” her expanding empire, but she has thought about what her next move will be. “I will literally disappear from public life. No one will ever see me again,” she reveals. Is this admission tongue-in-cheek?
One of the most disturbing episodes that involved public criticism came when in 2014, she described her impending divorce from Chris Martin, as, “conscious uncoupling.” In 2020, looking back at the firestorm of mockery that the phrase inspired, she admitted, “I never could have anticipated what came next. The public’s surprise gave way quickly to ire and derision. A strange combination of mockery and anger that I had never seen,” Paltrow wrote. “The intensity of the response saw me bury my head in the sand deeper than I ever had in my very public life.”
As the daughter of actress Blythe Danner and producer Bruce Paltrow, the 51-year-old grew up in Hollywood and was no stranger to the limelight, yet she has stated that she has never derived personal pleasure from her fame.
She also claims that money has never been her motivator. “I could never get attracted to the really rich guy… And I don’t make choices to build value in the wrong way,” she shared.
“I’ve always done independent films,” she continued, speaking of her previous work. “I don’t know. Money has never been my thing. It’s never been my driver.” But then of course, we have to ask: has she ever known any other kind of life?
Paltrow prefers to see herself as an inspired creator rather than the CEO of a major corporation, and what she enjoys is “Creating, collaborating, being struck with new ideas, innovating, thinking ahead, strategy, vision, that kind of thing.”
“We as women are so programmed to be busy,” she adds. “It’s like a badge of honor, and we’ve all bought this thing from the patriarchy hook, line, and sinker that we have to be busy and overperforming. I’d like to move into the next phase more from a place of discovery and gentleness. To let life unfold, as opposed to ‘I’m not doing enough.’”
