Gwyneth Paltrow on wellness, celebrity menopause criticism, and the famous vagina candle: ‘My instincts were right’
Gwyneth Paltrow has told Sky News she feels a sense of “satisfaction” in knowing her “instincts were right” regarding her move to becoming a pioneer of wellness, before it became the trillion-dollar industry it is today.
The Hollywood A-lister and Oscar winner, who has largely left acting behind after setting up her lifestyle business Goop, has faced some criticism and raised eyebrows about some aspects of the brand, including jade “yoni” vaginal eggs and guides to everything from detoxing to yawning.
However, since she launched in 2008, the wellness industry has become big business.
Paltrow launched Goop in 2008. Pic: Reuters
Speaking to Sky News’ The UK Tonight in a UK exclusive interview, when asked how she feels looking back at some of the criticism she has received, Paltrow said: “I think it’s actually funny at this point, you know, when I look back and I think about how mean people were about a number of things.
“We always just talked about things early. I think there is maybe a satisfaction, to know that, not to be glib, but just to know that I was on to something, my instincts were right. And I think it’s reaffirming, for myself, and going forward… if I really believe in something and I think it’s interesting and I think people might want to know about it, I’m happy to share about it.”
‘You can sit in a meeting, but get the benefits from meditation’
Paltrow, 51, is now launching a new mindfulness app, Moments Of Space, which aims to teach an “eyes-open” approach to meditating. “I like to say it’s for people who think they’re too busy to meditate, or their minds are too active to meditate,” she said.
“What you essentially do, you’re kind of led through a guided meditation where you start to explore with a very softened gaze, the space – the negative space around you, the positive space around you, and you’re able to sit in a meeting and listen, but kind of get the benefits from meditation.”
Another health issue Paltrow has spoken out about is the menopause, with other celebrities such as Davina McCall in the UK and Naomi Watts in the US trying to encourage people to be more open about it.
Davina McCall is campaigning to educate people more about menopause. Pic: Reuters
However, in a paper on the subject published earlier this month experts, including from the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and King’s College London, said the stage of life is not a disease and is being “over-medicalised”.
Commenting on the paper, Rachel Weiss, founder of the Menopause Cafe charity, said the pendulum had swung from “‘put up and shut up’ about menopause to sensationalising”, and that there was a danger of hearing too much about “celebrity horror stories”.
Paltrow told Sky News: “I think that’s, quite frankly, really reductive and disrespectful. I think menopause has always been a very difficult thing to pass through… for me, that’s like a relic of the patriarchy, you know, trying to silence women and that therefore keeps them out of their power.
“But if we all come together and say, this is happening, let’s share information, this is nothing to be ashamed of, that’s where you see progress.”
Paltrow won the best actress Oscar for her performance in Shakespeare In Love in 1999. Pic: Reuters
‘I thought, this is crazy. I’m not dumb’
Speaking about making the leap from actress to businesswoman, Paltrow said the one thing she would want other women to take from her experiences would be “not being afraid to ask questions”.
She continued: “When I was starting, I was so aware of everything I didn’t know and it made me feel self-conscious and insecure. I wish I had asked questions with more frequency earlier. There was a period of time, when I started learning about e-commerce and operating an e-commerce business, I would have to Google under the table certain acronyms and stuff.
“One day I just thought, like, this is crazy. I’m not dumb, I just don’t know yet. I just haven’t learned. So I gave myself permission to really ask questions. And there’s a vulnerability in that. But I think asking questions is the fastest way to learn and succeed.”
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‘I have a spicy sense of humour’: Paltrow on viral vagina candle
Paltrow also commented on one of Goop’s most famous former products – the This Smells Like My Vagina candle – saying: “I have a very spicy sense of humour, which those who know me well know.
“That candle was really about me being tired of women having shame around their bodies and the sort of very misogynistic framework that a lot of culture operates in. And so we just thought it would be kind of punk rock and funny, having no idea it would become the viral candle that it did.”
When it comes to social media, Paltrow admitted she can find navigating it “difficult” and that some platforms can be “incredibly anxiety-provoking”.
However, she recognises it’s importance for connecting with people – and when she does post, she says she isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
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“I can’t fake it,” she said. “If I’m going to go on there, I’m going to be myself and I’m going to be honest. That’s me, for better or worse. I think I’m a very authentic person, one way or the other. So, you know, that’s my style.”
Finally, with roles for women in Hollywood becoming more varied and more considered in recent years, Paltrow commented on a potential return to the big screen.
“You know, I’m about to embark on a different phase of life, my son is going to university in the Fall, so, you know, things can shift and change. With my job as CEO at Goop, it takes up all of my time. But who knows? I’m not actively pursuing it. I am very busy with my day job, but I’ve learned enough not to say never.”
Watch our full interview with Gwyneth Paltrow on The UK Tonight on Sky News at 8pm
The Stone Roses bassist Gary “Mani” Mounfield has died at the age of 63, his family has said.
Mani’s brother, Greg, said in a post on Facebook: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce the sad passing of my brother.”
“RIP RKID,” he added.
Gary “Mani” Mounfield and his wife Imelda at the world premiere of “The Stone Roses : Made Of Stone” in 2013. Pic: Reuters
Formed in 1983, The Stone Roses were a mainstay of the “Madchester” scene.
Mani joined the band in 1987 and formed part of its classic line-up alongside singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire and drummer Alan ‘Reni’ Wren. He remained with the group until their split in 1996.
Mani’s death comes two years after that of his wife, Imelda Mounfield, who was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2020. The couple welcomed twin boys in 2012.
Ian Brown, left, with Mani, right, performing on stage during their 2012 reunion concerts in Manchester. Pic: Reuters
The Stone Roses frontman Brown shared a tribute online, writing: “REST IN PEACE MANi X.”
Oasis singer Liam Gallagher said he was “in total shock and absolutely devastated”, describing the bassist as “my hero”.
“RIP Mani – my heartfelt condolences to his twin boys and all of his family,” wrote the Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder, whose bandmate Rowetta added: “Back with your Imelda, Mani. Going to miss you so much. All my love to the boys, the family & all those who knew & loved him.”
The Charlatans frontman, Tim Burgess, shared a photo of himself with Mani, writing alongside it: “I shared this photo a week or so ago on Mani’s birthday.
“It never failed to bring a smile to my face – and that was exactly the same for the man himself.
“One of the absolute best in every way – such a beautiful friend.”
Echo & the Bunnymen vocalist Ian McCulloch said Mani was someone “who I have always loved and always will love, deeply and forever. Like a brother”.
He continued: “I am in shock to be honest. Please tell me I’m just having a bad, bad dream. My thoughts and feelings and Mani. Love to all of his family from me”.
Pic: Robert Marquardt/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
The “Madchester” bands were known for blending indie with acid house, psychedelia, and pop.
The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut album of 1989 was a huge success, and was named the second greatest album of all time in a “Music of the Millennium” poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian, and Classic FM.
The novel has survived the industrial revolution, radio, television, and the internet. Now it’s facing artificial intelligence – and novelists are worried.
Half (51%) fear that they will be replaced by AI entirely, according to a new survey, even though for the most part they don’t use the technology themselves.
More immediately, 85% say they think their future income will be negatively impacted by AI, and 39% claim their finances have already taken a hit.
Tracy Chevalier, the bestselling author of Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Glassmaker, shares that concern.
“I worry that a book industry driven mainly by profit will be tempted to use AI more and more to generate books,” she said in response to the survey.
“If it is cheaper to produce novels using AI (no advance or royalties to pay to authors, quicker production, retainment of copyright), publishers will almost inevitably choose to publish them.
“And if they are priced cheaper than ‘human made’ books, readers are likely to buy them, the way we buy machine-made jumpers rather than the more expensive hand-knitted ones.”
Chevalier, author of the book Girl With A Pearl Earring, with the painting of the same name. Pic: AP
Why authors are so worried
The University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy asked 258 published novelists and 74 industry insiders how AI is viewed and used in the world of British fiction.
Alongside existential fears about the wholesale replacement of the novel, many authors reported a loss of income from AI, which they attributed to “competition from AI-generated books and the loss of jobs which provide supplementary streams of income, such as copywriting”.
Some respondents reported finding “rip-off AI-generated imitations” of their own books, as well books “written under their name which they haven’t produced”.
Last year, the Authors Guild warned that “the growing access to AI is driving a new surge of low-quality sham ‘books’ on Amazon”, which has limited the number of publications per day on its Kindle self-publishing platform to combat the influx of AI-generated books.
The median income for a novelist is currently £7,000 and many make ends meet by doing related work, such as audiobook narration, copywriting or ghost-writing.
Read more: The author embracing AI to help write novels
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Could the AI bubble burst?
These tasks, authors feared, were already being supplanted by AI, although little evidence was provided for this claim, which was not possible to verify independently.
Copyright was also a big concern, with 59% of novelists reporting that they knew their work had been used to train AI models.
Of these, 99% said they did not give permission and 100% said they were not remunerated for this use.
Earlier this year, AI firm Anthropic agreed to pay authors $1.5bn (£1.2bn) to settle a lawsuit which claimed the company stole their work.
The judge in the US court case ruled that Anthropic had downloaded more than seven million digital copies of books it “knew had been pirated” and ordered the firm to pay authors compensation.
However, the judge sided with Anthropic over the question of copyright, saying that the AI model was doing something akin to when a human reads a book to inspire new work, rather than simply copying.
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Most novelists – 67% – never used it for creative work, although a few said they found it very useful for speeding up drafting or editing.
One case study featured in the report is Lizbeth Crawford, a novelist in multiple genres, including fantasy and romance. She describes working with AI as a writing partner, using it to spot plot holes and trim adjectives.
“Lizbeth used to write about one novel per year, but now she can do three per year, and her target is five,” notes the author of the report, Dr Clementine Collett.
Is there a role for government?
Despite this, the report’s foreword urges the government to slow down the spread of AI by strengthening copyright law to protect authors and other creatives.
The government has proposed making an exception to UK copyright law for “text and data mining”, which might make authors and other copyright holders opt out to stop their work being used to train AI models.
“That approach prioritises access to data for the world’s technology companies at the cost to the UK’s own creative industries,” writes Professor Gina Neff, executive director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy.
“It is both bad economics and a betrayal of the very cultural assets of British soft power.”
A government spokesperson said: “Throughout this process we have, and always will, put the interests of the UK’s citizens and businesses first.
“We’ve always been clear on the need to work with both the creative industries and AI sector to drive AI innovation and ensure robust protections for creators.
“We are bringing together both British and global companies, alongside voices beyond the AI and creative sectors, to ensure we can capture the broadest possible range of expert views as we consider next steps.”
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