Here’s an Instagram photo of Gwyneth Paltrow and Sheryl Sandberg from Goop’s IG. They met for Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit and Gwyneth was interviewed about Goop. I’m including a video below. The conversation is mostly about Goop.com and how Gwyneth started her own business, but they get into the beef Martha Stewart has with Gwyneth. Martha said, just last month, that Gwyneth “just needs to be quiet. She’s a movie star. If she were confident in her acting, she wouldn’t be trying to be Martha Stewart.”
So, that was the “shots fired!” moment. Then, just a few days ago, Gwyneth announced that she had hired a new CEO, Lisa Gersh, who was formerly the president and CEO of Martha Stewart Living. Gwyneth is coming for you, Martha. Watch your ass, gurl. Then Gwyneth talked about the Martha beef during this summit:
Paltrow insists she’s flattered Stewart even considers her competition and revealed she’s developed quite a thick skin when it comes to dealing with the outbursts of her critics.
“No one has ever said anything bad about me before, so I’m shocked and devastated,” Paltrow said sarcastically. “I’ll try to recover,” she added.
“If I’m really honest, I’m so psyched that she sees us as competition. I’m so psyched. I really am,” she said. “At this point in my life I don’t take it personally,” she said, explaining that at times she even learns “good things” from her critics.
Paltrow’s comments come days after she announced a new hire for her Goop brand — Martha Stewart Living’s former president and CEO, Lisa Gersh. Taking the helm as Goop CEO, Gersh paid tribute to Paltrow and her vision. “As a fan since its launch, I’ve admired the inimitable voice and style Gwyneth has infused into goop, and the business she’s built,” she said. “It’s rare to work with such an inspired founder and a digitally native company, a brand that thinks digitally from an organic point-of-view and successfully fuses content and revenue-generating retail.”
I actually have to give Gwyneth some props for handling that really well. She could have doubled-down on a blonde-girl-fight. She could have thrown major shade. Instead, Gwyneth comes out of it looking like a professional and Martha looks bitter and bitchy. That being said… it’s pretty obvious that Gwyneth is coming for Martha.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, WENN.
Send them to the Thunder Dome!
Game on!!
comment of the day goes to Abbott 😀
My money’s on Martha. She’s probably got some prison moves, and Goopy would probably do a detoxifying cleanse ahead of time and be too weak to fight.
Laughing out loud!
Ha! Envisioning Martha and Goop in the Thunder Dome has me giggling. Of course it could be the wine.
Goopy credit where credit is due. That was both classy and a total burn.
Yes absolutely. Fair play to Goopy. I am ridic fan of Martha, warts and all as they say, and that little snit was so disappointing.
I’ll say one thing for Goop too….hiring Gersh has made me interested in the brand. (And stick with the red lippy too girl!)
Yeah especially the subtle “good things” dig. Throwing shade: it’s a good thing.
I agree. I read Martha’s statement the same way. You don’t comment so strongly on something that isn’t relevant.
Martha has been around for decades and has built a substantial empire,so I really do not think Martha feels threatened by Gwenyth in the least. I think Martha just shaded Gwenyth the way 99% of Americans shade Gwenyth. Let’s face it most Americans roll their eyes collectively when they listen to Gwenyth speak.
You realize she got a NYT book bestseller last year? Not everybody thinks of her in derogatory terms.
That’s something I hadn’t thought of, as a normal shaped woman with very different interests thAn gwyneth maybe she’s annoyed on a personal level at Gwyns ideas, passions, opinions, ideals, preferences, etc. more than she feels threatened. G does rub a lot of ppl the wrong way
I like both of them!
and the delusion continues… in no way Martha said she saw her as competition but G will believe only in what she wants to and not in what really has been said. She would have handled it well if she had said that Martha was entitled to her own opinion instead of this BS she came out with. I do like her two-piece outfit though.
Martha is shaking in her shoes…. Not! Give it up, Gwyneth. You’re an also-ran, plus you forgot about the little people. Martha keeps things affordable and do-able, and she has been Lifestyle Queen for what? 20 years? She can cut her perfect homemade wrapping paper, or cut you in a dark alley. Your choice.
That’s my problem with Martha criticizing people the way she does. All the other person has to do is handle it graciously and Martha looks petty and mean.
Exactly.
Yes, this. If Martha had shrugged off any GP question, this would be a non-issue. She gives the media fuel to create this catfight when there should be none. I thought Martha was smarter than that. But she’s in possession of a massive ego.
Gwyneth hiring her ex-CEO is the biggest slap of all. And much more effective.
This. She so should have said “Who?”
Might seem like goop holds upper ground but seriously?! Goop is no match for Martha. Simple as that.
Agreed. On top of that, can Martha still be said to be the reigning queen of DIY and Lifestyle that she once was? Hall of Famer and trailblazer for sure, but I don’t think she has the cachet to still be the keeper and curator of who can join in the magic craft circle.
What’s funny is Martha disses them in every interview then does things like nominates them for the Ice Bucket Challenge.
What Martha has no other friends in the business?
Is referencing Blake/Gwyneth at every turn her only way to get headlines when not lavishing praise on Terry Ricahrdson?
When Gwyneth produces a show that involves Apple and her bestie making fun of Goops ridiculousness then they will be in competition. I think Martha can laugh at herself. Gwyneth can’t.
Although Martha is letting it slip and being petty, I’m still Team Martha. No regrets.
I don’t see Goop being much competition for Martha’s empire. Martha’s ideas and products have never been out of reach from the poors. Goop on the other hand, has a certain demographic in mind and makes no qualms about it. I don’t know anyone in my social circle, poor or rich, who aspires to the Goop lifestyle. Goop tends to illicit an eye roll where as Martha can spark an idea of creativity.
Martha’s projects are often ridiculously time consuming and she has staff who complete most of the work, so 6 of one, half dozen of the other, but I get what you are saying.
I always wondered who GOOP’s audience was. Someone with a lot of time, a lot of money, and who likes Martha’s homey style. Somebody like Jessica Seinfeld. That can’t be a large market. If GOOP goes after real investors, they’ll need to produce results. Her company has been small and is in the red. So we’ll see how much longer she can survive being disliked by the middle class.
Only GOOP’s dreams will she take down Queen Martha. Martha has been to prison, ffs. All hail Martha!
And, Martha is accessible to the masses. GOOP ain’t and will never be.
#teammartha
So you’re saying Martha might stab her with a potato shank?
Hahaha!
A carefully whittled twig stiletto from a beloved tree on the farm…..or a garotte made from coarse hair from a beloved hoss. Or get Genghis Khan the beloved chow chow to attack…..chomp!
Go gansta gurrrl!
Can you imagine a prison throwdown between those two? GOOP wouldn’t stand a chance. Martha would snap her like a dry twig.
Oh Goopy, sick burn!
diabolical genius
Sheryl Sandberg is 45, COO of a huge and influential company, running a crazily well-known and inspirational campaign to promote women on the side, has two kids. Probably does give a shit about her appearance but is also clearly too busy to be able to let it take up much of her time.
Gwyneth is 42, runs a lifestyle business that is heavily focused on health and wellness, works in an industry that is all about youth and good looks, also has two kids. Seems to give way more shits about her appearance than anyone else possibly could.
Somehow Sandberg manages to look (to me, at least) like the younger and more fresh-faced of the pair, despite being older, shorter, and not blonde. Gwyneth, you are doing something wrong….
This is just a really a simplifying contrast you just made. I pretty sure both know that appearances mean a great deal when doing business.
But yes, she does look stunning, Sandberg
Sandberg is a pill. And she was quite the racist in college. So there’s that.
I’m honestly not a huge fan of Sandberg, and I’m aware that she probably does have to be quite conscious of her appearance (especially as she’s become more and more public a figure). But I was quite struck that goop, who is basically ALL about her appearance, and several years younger than Sandberg to boot, somehow manages to be upstaged by her in this photo (at least to my eye). It’s not so much a “Sheryl Sandberg is amazing!!” comment as a “WTF is Gwyneth getting for all her effort??” one.
In addition to hiring a new CEO, Goop should hire a professional to cut/color/condition/style her parched hair.
Martha wasn’t lying.
Oh, damnnnn! Curated, antiqued, artisinal blunderbusses fired!! GOOP is “so pyched” to be seen as Martha’s “competition”?!?! LMAO. What would this MMA brawl look like? I’m sure it would be held in a Conn. kitchen and have rules like “Wisks, but no meat mallets” and “freshly churned butter but NO Country Crock”!
Darling, Martha doesn’t see you as competition; she sees you as lunch. A dry, stringy mouthful of lunch.
I’ll get all psyched too. If you can’t get the competitor’s praise the hate is the next best thing.
Gwyneth has officially made it. Signed: Martha Stewart.
Goop comes across as the better person. I keep saying this but I hate when people get excused by statements like ‘she has earned it’ as we often see with Mariah Carey or Martha Stewart. You mean someone has earned the right to be so arsehole and treat people like shit?
GOOP has no substance just PR driven aimed at the 1 percenters. Martha Stewart built her business from the ground up. Martha’s target audience reaches across all income groups. I checked out GOOPs site and simply do not find its appeal,but then again I am not wealthy.
If Martha’s reading this:
Please sort out a new UK/Ireland distributor for your inimitable Living magazine…..I haven’t seen it since the June issue and life’s lacking a certain fizz without it!
🙁
Look, my relatives are coming to spend the long weekend, and I looked something up on Martha’s website to help me with the prep. Goop’s site didn’t even enter my head regarding getting that information. While I wish Martha would stop being so bitchy about it, I think it’s clear who has, and will always have the skills when it comes to “lifestyle” stuff.
There’s no competition. Team Martha for life!
I’ve always thought Martha’s responses about Gwyneth and Goop should be more gracious and elegantly dismissive; instead, they seem snarky and insecure. While I’m no fan of Paltrow and her site, I do think she came up with the more mature response.
Very, very business savvy on her part. It’s the best kind of backhanded compliment. It suggests that your opponent has an empire worth taking on while simultaneously undermining their authority that their work is fundamentally untouchable. Honestly, I was very surprised by Stewart’s comments. I’d have thought a woman with her experience and capability would have been known better how to properly throw down the gauntlet.
Maybe she’s very secure and so rich that she doesn’t care how she comes off and prefers to be honest ? We KNOW g got her perfect answer from an amazing publicist, martha seemed to be natural (I agree she sounded pretty rude though)
Maybe, but if we’re talking PR, Martha has just as much if not more resources at her disposal. I don’t think it will hurt her empire in the long run, but all she really accomplished here was to give GOOP even more publicity and come off scathing to most people.
Good Jujitsu Mz Paltrow! Use your opponent strength against her. Why do some people think that “there can only be one”?, I’ma looking at you Martha.
Somehow I don’t see Goop allowing anything with her brand on it in Kmart. And I don’t like Martha Stewart, but she got where she is by actually *doing* stuff. I’ll follow her recipes and some of her advice for practical things like how to set a table and whatnot. Goop? No. Never, not about anything, not ever. Martha Stewart is many things, but “stupid” is not one of them. Goop’s blood is made of undiluted dumb.
Makes sense for Goop to follow in the footsteps of Martha, who was insufferable in her heyday, too. According to Fortune, Gersh resigned after less than a year “over disagreements [with Martha] about how to expand her business….”
http://fortune.com/2014/10/06/gwyneth-paltrow-goop-ceo-gersh/
Why won’t she go away?
Goop hired MS’s ex CEO or something. And she can talk all she likes, but sorry, I don’t think her business is going to be a fraction of MSO, which is on the stock exchange and highly profitable. Like, ever. You’re talking about a mom and pop store vs Costco here.
This is Godzilla meets King Kong. That being said, the bottom line is Martha’s businesses generate loads of profit. Goop doesn’t. Lots of posturing on Goop, but no bottom line profit. Martha wins.