With a new, lower-priced beauty line, the lifestyle mogul finally expands beyond the jet set.
“I might just disappear.”
She looks her age, refreshingly, in a super-hydrated way.
She has a few fine lines.
The sides of her eyes crinkle when she smiles, which she does often.
She doesnt appear to be… filled.
Paltrow doesnt seem to be sweating.
How is that possible?
I know this because she posts the look on Instagram a couple weeks later with the caption September OOTDs.
I want it all.
That, in a nutshell, is her genius, and what shes built her 15-year-old company on.
Its just that the line is more affordable.
They have to, to get to survive and grow.
And Paltrow makes reinvention look easy.
I dont have to list her bio here; we all know her bio.
This is who she is now, at half a century.
Who shell be when shes 60 or 70 or 80 is anyones guess.
I feel like Im Oprah and Im interviewing Meghan Markle in the glorious California sun.
There should be a camera here, and Im like, Tell me about Harry.
Do you know Im the only person in America that did not see that interview?
Well, I didnt watch it at the time, and now I cant…
I dont know where to find it.
Im so out of it culturally.
I dont believe that.
Oh, my God, you have no idea.
I was like, What?
She goes, What is wrong with you?
But youre on social media, though?
Im on social media, but Im really only on Instagram.
I end up muting a lot of things.
I dont know, I find it hard.
The idea of being on camera and talking to nobody makes me so uncomfortable.
You seem pretty good at it, though.
Im deeply uncomfortable, but I do my best.
You always come up on my feed, by the way.
Whenever Im scrolling… Theres Gwyneth Paltrow!
I always stop and watch.
Its not totally fruitless then, my efforts of self-humiliation.
Lets talk skin care.
Goop Beauty has been out for seven years now.
What was the impetus behind OK, we need to do this next thing?
Are we talking about Good Clean Goop?
I get so confused.
So this line is actually something that we ideated really early.
We liked the idea of democratizing clean skin care.
And then it came off the back burner again.
I love the products.
Theyre really good, and theyre really clean.
Is it more difficult to make clean skin care at a lower price point?
Arent the ingredients expensive?
What happens is that you use a lower amount of actives and botanicals and stuff like that.
Its all about At what concentration will this still be efficacious but affordable?
How did you settle on Target and Amazon as the two retailers?
We actually started the conversations with Target years and years ago.
I really like Target.
I think its a great brand.
They have cool spins on things, and they seem to care about aesthetics.
Then Amazon, the consumer is there, and so you want to make it easy.
All that said, whats a good headline for this story?
I couldnt really come up with one except for Gwyneth Goes Mass.
How are you thinking about this as a moment for you and your company?
I am thinking about just being able to reach more people.
So I can understand that idea, but I dont think of it as us going mass.
I just didnt approach it like that, like Lets go mass.
What does the word clean mean to you?
I really trust our product development department here.
We have amazing scientists.
Because its not broadly regulated, weve come up with our own internal dos and donts.
Theres also been backlash to the word clean, in that sometimes it can feel exclusionary.
Like clean meaning pure and without imperfection.
I think some women have taken issue with this idea that everything needs to be perfect and clean.
Well, for us, it means nontoxic.
Though clean has become a sort of umbrella term for a lot of this stuff.
I think its a really nice word.
How is your life so messy?
So Im just f*cking up.
Its just one of those seasons.
Its like this fulcrum of life.
I thought in my 50s I could downshift for some reason.
I dont really know why I thought that would happen.
I was talking to my friend whos in her 60s, and shes like, Oh, no.
You got 15 more years.
I was like, Oh, my God.
Im in my 40s, and Ive been feeling this as well, like, its all too much.
We as women are so programmed to be busy.
Id like to move into the next phase more from a place of discovery and gentleness.
To let life unfold, as opposed to Im not doing enough.
Even when Im trying to relax, Ill think, OK, Ill sit down with a great novel!
And its like, Jesus, can you not just sit down and daydream?
I do think that the younger generations are better at not feeling that way.
I really hope so.
How was being 50?
I really flipped out.
I didnt have that at all at 50.
I was like, I love my friends.
I love my husband.
I love my kids.
Yeah, my job is hard.
But this is good.
I felt like 50 was a deepening into myself.
And, apparently, that just keeps getting better.
And then everything starts to hurt.
Ill probably try, knowing myself.
Or I might be like, F*ck this.
I might just disappear, and no one will ever see me again.
Have your thoughts about skin and skin care changed over the past 10 years?
Then youre like, Oh, my God, my face.
So its double-pronged for me.
This is OK.
Do you compare yourself to other women your age?
I never do that.
I made a pact with myself never to measure myself against any other woman.
So its like: how do I feel?
How am I holding myself?
Do I like myself?
What is my anxiety level?
Yeah, Im bummed that my stomach is…
So Ive really tried to divorce myself from that comparison.
That is why women are always looking at you on social media.
Youre an actual example of a person who looks the right way.
I dont do a ton of stuff, and I dont put all those crazy filters on my pictures.
I just posted on Instagram this morning.
I was like, Whatever.
This is how I look.
Im not going to go put it through… Whats it called, that app?
Im like, I dont have f*cking time to do that anyway.
Do you feel freed of the male gaze as you get older?
I love my husband so much, so thats really shifted things for me.
I probably dont walk into a room the way I used to walk into a room because of that.
I feel really lucky.
Hes a great guy, and hes my best friend.
Hes so patient and hes so nonjudgmental and open-minded.
Im able to think through whatever.
Hes just a great partner.
Youve always been outspoken about finding whats right for you.
It weighed very, very heavily on me.
My kids are great.
Theyre grounded and grateful and funny.
Every single one of them said I didnt care that my parents got divorced.
They said that was the most awful thing.
You could see they held it with so much hurt and anger.
I was like, Thats what Im never going to do.
And we really didnt.
Apple is now 19.
Is it fun to have a daughter that age?
Shes more girly than I am.
Shes really good at doing makeup and loves to do it.
Does she teach you stuff?
I just dont wear makeup that requires skill.
We were FaceTiming yesterday, and she was telling me how she uses all the Goop products.
Shes such an eminently nice person, and her values are in the right place.
Hows the college process going?
Hes more relaxed about it.
Hes kind of like Ill be happy wherever; its fine, which is a great feeling.
Its not the last life decision that youll ever make.
Its just one of the first.
And it generally seems to work out.
I think they have it down to a science.
On a different note: How much do you spend on your skin care?
Because you get it all for free.
I buy everything, but I get a discount, yes.
You buy all your products?
I buy everything from Goop.
Theres this concept in Kabbalah called Bread of Shame.
When my friends are starting businesses, Im like, Dont give your stuff away.
You are creating value, imbuing value at every touchpoint all the time.
So Ive never asked if I could get it for free.
I could, but I like paying for it.
I think its good.
Goop just released its first foray into color cosmetics, the Colorblur Glow Balm.
Are you going to expand more into the makeup category?
I think very minimally.
So I doubt well ever make a foundation, but we might make some more skin-enhancing things.
So whos going to buy Goop and make you hundreds of millions of dollars?
I have no idea.
Were not ready to sell yet.
I need a few more years.
Maybe you could make a dramatic exit on your 55th birthday.
Id be happy with that.
Sail off into the sunset.
I will literally disappear from public life.
No one will ever see me again.
You think thats true?
You dont get any pleasure from having to do that side of it?
What does your professional pleasure come from?
Are you motivated by money?
Ive always done independent films.
Money has never been my thing.
Its never been my driver.
The Goop brand is so entwined with the Gwyneth Paltrow brand do you worry about its survival without you?
Its going to be really critical to share the consumer-facing responsibility with other people.
I said, I so relate to you.
Its usually two completely different roles.
But people do like to see you in the clothes!
I know, I know, I know, I know.
But if Im constantly doing pictures into my late 50s, it starts to get very niche.
Im trying to appeal to a broad swath of women.
The fact that Apple and her sorority sisters are so into Goop is so exciting to me.
Well, you always have Apple, who could be a lovely model.
She doesnt want anything to do with it, though.
Shes a very private person, actually.
Navigating being part of your family must be quite something for a 19-year-old college student.
Now theres this whole nepo baby culture, and judgment that exists around kids of famous people.
But theres nothing wrong with doing or wanting to do what your parents do.
Nobody rips on a kid whos like I want to be a doctor like my dad and granddad.
I think its kind of an ugly moniker.
You are certainly a good role model for them, then.
Finally: What is your dream for Good.clean.goop?
I just hope people really like it and try it.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
