Gwyneth Paltrow says the criticism of her Goop lifestyle website is completely unfair.
The 44-year-old actress founded the brand in 2008 and it began as a weekly newsletter giving healthy living advice and an insight to her own loves before expanding into an online portal with recommendations for all aspects of modern life for visitors.
Over the years Goop has been lambasted for recommending controversy treatments such as vaginal steaming which may not have the health benefits stated and urging users to purchase costly products, such as a $15,000 14-karat-gold sex toy, which are completely affordable to most people.
Gwyneth – whose ex-husband is Coldplay frontman Chris Martin – is adamant most of the criticisms are unfounded and are knee-jerk reactions to headlines rather than constructive.
Speaking on the Girlboss podcast, she said: "I’ve had a couple days over the last three months where I was like, ‘F**k it.’ This is so deeply unfair and I wish that people would actually read the article or do their homework before they are vitriolic about it."
The Oscar winner admits she felt like an "imposter" when she first launched her venture but Goop was something she felt she needed to create because she was feeling "burnt out" as an actress at the time.
Gwyenth – who is the daughter of actress Blythe Danner and late producer Bruce Paltrow – explained: "I felt more like an imposter when I was starting my business, Goop. Having grown up, like, on the floor watching, you know, this Broadway star sing around the piano and this actor come for dinner and being always around actors – it was who I was. I never felt as an actor like an imposter. I definitely felt insecure and I definitely felt like I don’t know where I’m going with this. But I never felt like a fish out of water or I don’t belong here because I really had come from it but I definitely felt like an imposter when I was setting up my business and first monetising it."
Revealing her need for a new challenge when she launched Good nine years ago, she added: "I had really burnt out in acting. I was doing three movies a year, five movies a year and I was really questioning it, like, ‘Is this my calling? Am I happy doing this?’ I felt so grateful I had this career but at the same time I felt like there was something else that I wanted and I didn’t want to give myself permission to do that because I thought, like, ‘You have it enough, you have this amazing career.’
"It knocked me down so many pegs. I was like, ‘Oh I’m like no one. I’m nothing. This s**t is real. I have to sit here and defend my plan and I have to know the most granular aspect of my business.’ The celebrity just completely drains out of the room in two seconds – it’s irrelevant."
Gwyneth Paltrow says Goop critics are unfair
