The Goop universe is set to expand a bit as self-styled lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow brings her brand to Netflix to explore “boundary-pushing wellness topics.”
The pixels were barely dry on the online media release before critics pounced, bandying about words like “nonsense,” “hogwash,” “pseudoscience” and “dubious.”
Goop, a lifestyle and e-commerce website—that besides offering beauty and food advice—traffics in wellness and health claims and sells a variety of products of, um, questionable benefit under its “wellness” banner. Crystal-infused water bottle for $84, anyone?
Most memorably, in 2018 Goop paid $145,000 in civil penalties after California prosecutors accused it of making unsubstantiated, harmful health claims regarding “vaginal eggs” and essential oil products it sold. Don’t even ask about the vaginal steaming. Of the controversies, Paltrow told Harvard students, per the New York Times, “I can monetize those eyeballs.”
“The Goop Lab with Gwyneth Paltrow” premieres Jan. 24 on the streaming service. The trailer promises exploration of “energy healing,” psychedelics, psychic mediums, cold therapy and Goop’s standby, sex.
After watching the trailer, one of Paltrow and Goop’s most prominent medical critics, OB-GYN Dr. Jen Gunter, told Bustle: “This looks like classic goop: some fine information presented alongside unscientific, unproven, potentially harmful therapies for attention, with the disclaimer of ‘We’re only having conversations!’ ”
Paltrow says she’s learned from her mistakes. “I think when we were a little startup and we didn’t know about claims and regulatory issues, we made a few mistakes,” she told CNBC. “We’re very focused, of course, on backing up the things that we talk about with scientific claims when necessary or being able to say like, ‘Hey, this is just for your entertainment.’ ”
