Media Review

Websites: Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop

McLean's Magazine had an article in a recent issue titled "What Would Gwyneth Do? The once aloof actor has reinvented herself as a more karmically evolved Martha Stewart". Being a huge fan of Gwyneth Paltrow, I was intrigued, if a bit sceptical, of the article.

And so I discovered Goop, the newsletter that Gwyneth Paltrow has started. She sends out a "usually weekly" email with one article that deals with her life in some way in one of six areas with the names Be, Do, Make, Get, See and Go. I cruised the newsletter archive with a lot of scepticism and not much hope after reading the not-so-positive article. I was happily surprised by some of the articles, though I definitely agreed with the McLean's writer that her tastes and suggestions are far, far out of the league of about 99% of her readership (one of her favourite places to stay in London is a hotel that charges $600 a night). I found the articles that I liked were the ones where her socio-economic class were not evident. Some of the articles did not allow that distance from her celebrity personality and I found it hard to identify with her as a person or a peer. Her image is based on elegance and grace, which, as much as I might try to delude myself, I just don't match.

I did sign up for the newsletter, though, and the first one that arrived happened to be on parenting! If you are interested in hearing what four professionals from different areas have to say to answer her question, read on.

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