Gwyneth Paltrow gave a lengthy interview to Fortune this week to promote Goop’s latest collaboration. This is the biggest thing Goop.com has ever been involved with: Gwyneth signed on as an investor and creative director of an organic makeup line called Juice Beauty and in turn, Juice Beauty invested in Goop.com. There’s a lot of business information about the company and why Gwyneth thinks it’s important, but I’m just pulling out some highlights. You can read the full piece (and watch the video) here.
Being creative director for Juice Beauty: “The company is kind of my dream in terms of alignment… We’ll leave the scientific formulas to the chemists. I’m very involved in everything from textures, consistencies, color, palette. With the makeup, I’ve been very involved in everything – not the chemical formulations – but how the formulations will look and feel. All the way to the packaging and branding.”
On her contract with (non-organic) Max Factor: “I still have a contract with Max Factor in the rest of the world. But soon this will be the only one.
Cutting back on her endorsements: “I’m really trying with my e-commerce business – trying to narrow it down and be very strategic about it and mindful of the alignments I make. Juice is our first foray into our own label product. I don’t look at this as an endorsement, because I care so much about the ethos of the company and the product that they’re making.
Her involvement with Goop: “Every day. Right now I’m inextricably linked to the company. The company needs me and my presence. Until it’s a brand that doesn’t need me – which I hope will happen in the next five years – it’s important that I’m there and committed. I haven’t filmed anything in a year because I want to properly do this. I’m doing edits all the time with my buyer, and we have a new ad sales team, and they’re bringing in partnerships there. It’s just a lot. It sounds trite to say I’m involved. It’s my company and I work there every day. It requires a lot of me, and nothing happens without me being involved except coding.
Whether Goop is profitable: “We make money. It surprises me when we look at the balance sheet. Our revenue is good. We don’t lose money. Our burn rate is pretty high. We have to hire people all the time. We don’t have any debt at all. We just hired this incredible ad sales team. We need to take money in order to grow.
Her Food Stamp Challenge failure: “People love to get hyper-involved in the decisions that I make. The point was to bring awareness to the fact that we have a really long way to go in this country, and that even eating fresh food is a luxury, and it really shouldn’t be. I found it really incredibly challenging. I’m really glad that I understood what millions of American families are trying to do. Like what I said on the website, the fact that women aren’t paid what men are paid just makes the problem worse. Because if women were paid an equal wage – certainly the choice to feed your family more nutritious food would be available.
Reading through the full transcript, I was actually impressed with Gwyneth’s business ambition and goal-setting for Goop. But with the good comes the bad – only Gwyneth would treat her multi-million-dollar Max Factor contract like it was dog sh-t on her Jimmy Choo. Of course she got that Max Factor money – PEASANTS! – and in turn, she’ll diss all of the non-organic makeup lines out there. As for Gwyneth’s daily, hands-on involvement and her supreme sacrifice of not doing any films for a year just so she can focus solely on Goop… well, if that’s what it takes to get her off of movie screens, then YAY.
Oh, and “People love to get hyper-involved in the decisions that I make…” God, she’s such a snot. The whole raison d’etre of having a huge lifestyle company and a big social media footprint is because you want people to pay attention to the decisions and choices you make. You can’t invite people in and then complain about it.
Meanwhile, the current issue of Us Weekly has a story about Gwyneth and her boyfriend/lover Brad Falchuk. They had a dinner date at Jon & Vinny’s in LA, and after dinner, they danced to Nicki Minaj’s “Truffle Butter.” Goop is so gangsta.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Max Factor.
She is a snot!! If you say you’re going to do a challenge for a week and make it a big deal, see it through.
I sincerely do not understand this comment and the attitude on this. She could not eat for a week on $29. She failed. Game over. I could not do it either and I am not rich nor am I fat.
Even if I just eat home cooked red lentils everyday for a week, I still need 2.5 cups of fresh veggies and a cup of fresh fruit and and egg whites and either fish or chicken and my green tea bag and my cup of two of coffee (home made, not starbucks) daily. ( I also have pets and a significant other, but lets leave them out.) That is not $29 and I too would fail in a maybe 3 days and it would be game over. Sorry if my need to aim for personal health offends, but there it is.
So what in hell would you have me or Paltrow do when the money ran out? Lie? The point was to confirm how impossible it is and be a healthy eater.
Thanks.
judy – Exactly! I’m confused how people are missing this. I think they’re too wrapped up in hating her to see the point of the whole thing. She was trying to see if, based on her understanding of nutritious foods, she could survive on $29 and she couldn’t. I think her point was made by not being able to finish….
I think though, the idea of privileged people expressing empathy for those less fortunate, when it is simply impossible for them to completely submerge themselves in that without knowing on every level that they can hit the “stop scenario” button at any point is what irks people most about this. She’s implying that she understands and she can’t possibly.
But – I still think it’s sad that she’s being bashed for attempting to understand.
I can’t stand the pretentious twat. Never have, never will.
She has said the most pretentious things regularly for years. Is the public supposed to forget the “I can’t pretend I make 25k per year” crap? She has never known and will never know real Want. Which is fine, but she tries too hard to appeal to every woman. She isn’t the most insightful person is she?
She’s said before that she’s not trying to appeal to every woman. I think THAT is one of the main things people hate about her.
Yeah, she’s appealing to ignorant idiots with lots of money, much like herself. What she really meant to say was she loves people getting hyperinvolved in her decisions. That’s why she makes every last one of them a news event. After that last bomb she made with Johnny Depp, I’d say her acting days are finally on the wane. Maybe some ensemble pieces. She sure can’t carry a film.
Me neither.
And every time she opens her mouth she reinforces my negative opinion of her.
Elitist, out of touch brat is elitist, out of touch and bratty.
She has a notable lack of foresight. That Max Factor line WILL come back to bite her boney ass.
Yea she’s still contracted with them and it’s really shocking that she is biting the hand that fed her. Of course she is insufferable, but I always found her to be a clever business woman and that comment surprised me.
Has anybody paid such close attention to any other celebrity and whether they stuck to the challenge? I’m guessing not. So, in that respect, she definitely accomplished her goal of raising awareness. I understand she’s a little uppity, but the level of hate some people have for her is amusing.
She posted it on Instagram.
Yes all the time when they make it public and they too get called out for it.
Well, I would expect any celebrity to post on social media about it if they’re doing the challenge.
Kellybee, I don’t mean this in a snarky way, but honestly what other celebrity has made headlines for doing the foodstamp challenge?
I’m writing this only because it is in reply to your comment and not because of “hate” (which is such a strong word to use as a critical attack just because people dared to criticize Goop).
After she was spotted out going to restaurants during the seven-day challenge, her and her PR team finally fessed up that she quit four-days into it.
She then wrote a blog article basically admitting that she knew from the start and wouldn’t have been surprised if she didn’t make it through the week based on what she (or her employees) bought. So why do the project so publicly if she’s not going to put as much effort into planning out her food purchases like the others who’ve done the challenge?
Her choice of purchases was criticized because it was obviously done as an half-assed thought. Nobody who seriously tried to live a week on $29 worth of food would have bought as little an amount of food as she did. If you look online at images of other people’s purchases, there’s loads more food. Look at Mayor Cory Booker’s photos. Look at anybody else’s. Look at the list of foods bought by Mario Batali, the one who inspired Goop to take this challenge.
She said one of the reasons she quit four days in was because she needed to eat chicken. Well, I’ve seen challenge photos that included chicken. Why? Because these other people sat down and thought it out about the amount of food per price of food per what would be eaten per meal daily. Because they were serious about lasting the full seven days. Then compare that with Goop’s purchases. It looked like something someone would buy if they knew beforehand that they didn’t want to do the full length of time in the first place. Again, she basically admitted that she knew from the start that what she bought wasn’t going to get her through the week.
If her goal was to generate awareness, then she should have at least made it look like she took it seriously involving a well-thought out process. Then it wouldn’t have looked like such a self-promoting publicity stunt. Compare her effort with Mayor Booker’s. Then you’ll see which one gave the challenge the respect it deserves.
Also, in her essay, her big point was about wage equality even though the challenge was to bring public pressure on Congress into increasing the food stamp budget. She can’t even stay on message. She can’t think out how to do the challenge and then she can’t push the point that the challenge is all about. She might as well have not done it in the first place for all the ridiculousness she brought to it.
Beautifully stated, anne-000. I think the wage equality statement was actually to deflect against her half-assed approach to the food-stamp challenge. When you take away her image, is there actually anything in there?
That girl can’t dance.
Somebody still butthurt from the SNAP challenge debacle I see.
How do you put your own sh!t on blast for all to see..fail epically, be seen days later eatting rabbits ans minks and then not understand the ridicule and backlash?
Girl, bye!
Wow she looks amazing in the totally shopped photo. She’s a snob.
She looks like a younger version of her mother in that photo. Maybe that’s why she straightens her hair!
I really liked Juice Beauty. I might have to reconsider that now.
Exactly. Way to go and ruin a decent brand for me. I have such dislike for any celebrity who is not content with their acting or singing career, but then has to “expand her brand” into lifestyle stuff just so they can get more money…. Ugh! Goop in particular pushes all the wrong buttons for me.
Personally, I have no desire whatsoever to be involved in any decision she makes. There’s 59 hours until the next GOT. I have decided what to wear. Armor like Brienne or a dragon costume?
Dragon costume is always a wise choice!
Black and red dragon costume or white and gold dragon costume?
Black and red. Gah, you’ve got two?
Dear Goop
Gurrl…sit yo snotty gangsta ass down. Kind regards, A Peasant.
I hope her “creativity” doesn’t kill the Juice Beauty I have used for years. She kind of acts like this is HER company. It’s been around for awhile.
It sounds like she’s trying to ditch GOOP. Why?
I can’t decide if those ruby earrings are tacky or glorious.
I honestly can’t understand why anyone would buy an beauty product with her face associated with it. Her skin looks like she is perceptually recovering from being burned and her hair is like straw. And none of these beauty lines that she represents or health crazes that she follows have improved either, so if they aren’t working for her why would anyone believe it will work for them when she suppose to be the spokesperson?
Also, I’m really getting annoyed by people that purposely put their lives out there on social media being shocked when people pay attention to their lives. Doesn’t social media involve heavy doses of voyeurism? Isn’t that the point of it to have people pay attention to you? If you don’t want people to comment then make your page private or quit all social media sites. Ugh.
Yeah!
I agree, she’s not someone I think of when it comes to beauty products.
And yes, if you dump all your personal stuff out there into social media, you can’t then whine when people pay attention to it. She likes the praise, but not the criticism. If you want to be public, you have to accept both.
I can’t bring myself to hate her. In an odd roundabout way she means well.
I have an odd feeling she thinks “truffle butter” is really just that, and not the disgusting NSFW urban dictionary description of truffle butter that Nicki Minaj is referencing. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been dancing to that. That is several levels below peasantry.
I was wondering to myself why it is that so many hate ‘ole Gynneth. Is it that she has money? Is attractive? Has developed a burgeoning brand that’s targeted to the affluent? And then I thought of Ellen Degeneres…(wealthy, certainly), or Sofia Vergara….(wealthy and beautiful), or even Jessica Alba…(wealthy, beautiful and has a brand targeted to the upscale consumer –north of middle class certainly, based on her prices), and realized that we don’t hate those individuals.
To the contrary, the public seems to adore Ellen because she is so relatable and so generous, despite the fact that she makes no bones about her own screaming wealth. We seem to embrace the insanely beautiful and sexy Sofia and her commercial endorsements, perhaps because she always seems to be sort of ‘in on the joke’ and quite self deprecating…so likable. And Jessica Alba is all the things Gynneth is, but seems somehow to be quite hardworking, self deprecating, and trying to do something good in the world and make a buck in the process. One can imagine her with a spit up stain on her favorite sweater somehow. And despite her physical attractiveness, she is often seen publically very dressed down, running errands and having bad hair days.
Gynneth, on the other hand, seems to be determined that she appear smarter than we are, physically perfect, and emotionally completely contained. And the result is quite humorless. We just can’t but help roll our eyes every time she opens her mouth, arches her back for photographers or opines on some world issue. I think she lacks something these other women have in spades –confidence to be viewed as ‘normal’– and also lacks any real insight about the connection between what she does and says to how she is perceived. And the whole ‘aren’t I cleverer than you’ crap gets old in a minute. Reportedly, she has consulted senior level people in the industry about how she can turn her public perception around and ‘get people to like her better’. Maybe she just needs to relax, for chrissakes. Money, nice cheekbones, a decent brain, and a web business just don’t make you any more ‘special’ than the rest of us. Something her more likable peers seem to know instinctively.
First time commenting but a daily lurker. But after reading all offensive c**p on other sites, there is nothing better than coming here and reading your guys’ awesome and thoughtful comments. Anyways this is OT – I have nothing more to contribute to the Paltrow conversation cuz it has already been said better by others. She is an elitist brat but I didn’t find her as annoying in this article as usual.
as if she is even offered rolls, film or tv.
she’s always contradicted herself from the beginning, hasn’t changed a bit. always been entitled hypocrite, from parking her mercedes Benz suv ON THE SIDEWALK in front of her old village townhouse while partaking in a campaign saying people shouldn’t drive SUVs because it supports terrorism.
her original GOOP mission statement was basically “I will never use goop to schill cuz I just want to share all my fab info with teh peasants” to this nonsense that GOOP is the new apple hear her roar.
just because she has no memory doesn’t mean the rest of the world doesn’t.
I feel bad for the original creative director and ceo of juice. to build up a company only to be ousted by credit stealing goop -ugh.
I guess she TOLD yall……I mean US, LOL!!!
LOL Hubris, thy name is Gwyneth. Actually, I’m sure I’m in the majority — people who couldn’t tell you even one thing you’ve decided in the last six months. You know why? Because I’m too busy worrying about ME! That’s right, I am mostly concerned about ME! Amazing. 🙂
Good luck Gwyneth. The beauty industry is a 6 billion dollar one, and I don’t blame anyone for trying to get a slice of that.
Organic cosmetics is a good thing for people BC our skin is an organ that absorbs everything for bodily process. We pay more attention to what we eat than we put on our skin., and this should change
That said, I CAN’T STAND GWYNETH. No way I’d buy her brand of anything.
Gwyn? Eff Off. That is all.
Juice is a dumb name for a cosmetics company.
But a name that isn’t is…. Wait for it…. goop!!
She is all about Money + Image.
She and Brad2 will be over in a year. She is too vapid and self-involved.
Nope. I looked at his Twitter account. He is the one one person who favored her ‘Water has emotions’ tweet. He sounds as vapid and self-involved as GP. Also, can we talk about the possibility of GP being a step-mom? Can you imagine what Brad’s ex-wife is going to have to deal with?
Wow, she sure said a lot of ‘me’.
Because she hyper invites people to get involved in her decisions with her fame housing ways