Gwyneth Paltrow's most outrageous Goop controversies -

After conquering Hollywood, Gwyneth Paltrow famously took a break from acting in 2008 to launch her lifestyle website, Goop. Since then, her tiny health blog blew up into a wellness empire, complete with a podcast, magazine, and shop filled with Goop-branded products.

While it was already questionable for someone with no educational background in health and wellness to be recommending things for women’s wellness, especially when so many of her fans would do anything to be like her, the company tripped up and fell down into controversy time and again. Goop has come under fire from doctors, scientists, government officials, and readers, and Paltrow herself has been criticized for her business ethics and her strange ideas about health.

The so-called wellness guru is being lambasted online again as TikTok users are calling her an "almond mom"–a term used for adults who push disordered eating onto their children–after her appearance on 'The Art of Being Well' podcast on March 13. Paltrow had an IV in her arm (“I love an IV, I’m an early IV adopter") as she spoke about her daily wellness routine.

She revealed she intermittent fasts, and eats something "that won’t spike [her] blood sugar” around noon, adding, "I have bone broth for a lot of the days." Then she does an hour of movement, dry brushes in the sauna for 30 minutes, and has a vegetable-heavy paleo dinner to “support [her] detox.”

Viewers criticized the way she is always promoting a detox, with many saying she looks "physically sick" and calling her tips "out of touch," per Page Six. “The mother of all almond moms,” someone wrote, as another added, “what is she detoxing from if she doesn’t eat?”

Well, there's a lot more controversy where that came from. Click through to see Goop’s weirdest and most controversial endorsements, retreats, and financial scandals, as well as some bizarre personal quotes from Paltrow to round it all off.

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Controversy from the inside -

One of Goop's top executives has spoken out against the brand. Elise Loehnen served as the Chief Creative Officer of Goop for years, hosting the 'The goop Podcast' and 'The goop Lab' on Netflix. She left in 2020 and later revealed that the lifestyle company's "cleanse culture" distorted her body image and negatively impacted her relationship with food. Loehnen took part in several of Goop's recommended dietary cleanses. In an Instagram video, she said, "To me, it had become synonymous with dieting and restriction. I felt like I was not in a healthy relationship with my body, where I was always trying to punish it [and] bring it under control."

Since leaving the company, Loehnen has been able to regain a healthier attitude towards her body and her diet, as she realized that wellness culture can be just as toxic as a diet full of processed foods. "I needed to break a tendency to be critical and punishing. To chastise myself. All of it. I stopped weighing myself completely," she revealed. 

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V-steaming - In a 2015 post, Goop praised vaginal steams or “V-Steams,” which they claimed cleanse the uterus and rebalance hormone levels. “You sit on what is essentially a mini-throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al. It is an energetic release.”

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V-steaming - In an interview with LiveScience, OB-GYN Draion Burch, MD, said there isn’t scientific evidence to prove the health benefits, and that the method could actually result in burns and bacterial infections, the former of which recently occurred for the first time in recorded medical history. 

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V-steaming - Gynecologist Jen Gunter, MD, also said, “Steaming your vagina with wormwood or mugwort will not do anything to hormones because these plants are not hormones,” and added that there’s no way the steam could reach the uterus because, well, basic anatomy. 

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Cure-all space stickers -

In a now-deleted post from 2017, Goop promoted US$120 wearable stickers from the brand Body Vibes, which they claimed were made out of the same “conductive carbon” as NASA space suits, which supposedly monitor astronauts’ vitals. They would come "pre-programmed to an ideal frequency" to "rebalance energy frequency in our bodies."

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Cure-all space stickers - Shortly after the article went up, boasting benefits for hangovers, mental focus, and even hydration, Mark Shelhamer, former chief scientist at NASA’s human research division, called the stickers "a load of BS," and clarified that space suits were not made with carbon nor did the material monitor vitals.  

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The infamous jade egg - One of the most widely known Goop controversies involves its jade and rose quartz egg-shaped stones, meant for women to insert into their vagina and let sit for various lengths of time. It claimed to balance hormones, prevent uterine prolapse, strengthen kidneys, increase bladder control, tone muscles, and prevent depression. 

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The infamous jade egg - Dr. Jen Gunter called Goop’s advice “a hot mess” and explained that holding a jade egg in your vagina can cause pelvic problems, as those muscles are not meant to contract continuously, and it can allow bacteria to enter which can lead to a higher risk of the deadly toxic shock syndrome. 

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The infamous jade egg - The California Food, Drug and Medical Device Task Force filed a complaint at the lack of scientific evidence, and in 2018, Goop agreed to refund some customers who purchased its vaginal eggs and pay out US$145,000 in a consumer-protection lawsuit settlement.

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The infamous jade egg - Goop continued to sell the US$66 jade egg, but they now claimed to only "increase sexual energy."

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Inner Judge Flower Essence Blend -

The US$22 liquid was also noted in the lawsuit, which Goop advertised as a "floral blend that assists in the clearing of guilt, shame, self-criticism and blame."

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One month after the egg scandal… - Goop was reported to UK advertising regulators over "misleading and potentially dangerous claims," allegedly violating more than 113 UK advertising laws. 

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The Mother Load - This "top-of-the-line natal protocol" was included in the dangerous claims, as it was said to contain 110% of the recommended "daily value" of vitamin A for adults, a supplement which both the NHS and the World Health Organization have warned pregnant women not to take because of risks to the baby.

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Psychic Vampire Repellent protection mist - Goop sold this somehow real product alongside other sprays including Everlasting Love romance mist, Chill Child kid calming mist, and Clean Slate smoke-free smudge mist.

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Voluntary colonics - Goop faced backlash for an article promoting colonics, a procedure that cleans out the colon with water before colonoscopies, as a way to remove toxins and promote gut health—essentially what your digestive system already does.

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Voluntary colonics - The procedure was criticized by a physician at the Mayo Clinic, who warned that colon cleanses can result in dehydration, infections, vomiting, and bowel ruptures, and should only be performed before a colonoscopy.

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How to live your "leanest livable weight" - In 2018, Goop stoked the fire for publishing an article on how to achieve your "leanest livable weight," which the website described as "the weight at the low end of your 'set range,'" but which seemed to promote being as thin as possible without dying. 

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The controversy that stung - One of Paltrow’s scariest wellness controversies was when she told the New York Times that she let bees sting her to fade scars and reduce inflammation. "Generally, I’m open to anything. I’ve been stung by bees. It’s a thousands of years old treatment called apitherapy," she said. "But, man, it’s painful."

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The controversy that stung - The controversy resurfaced in 2018, when the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology reported that a woman died from bee-sting therapy, reporting that the procedure is unsafe and potentially lethal, and increasingly so the more often you do it.

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Rose Quartz Soothing Face-Massage Roller -

Medical aesthetician Cynthia Rivas stated that this treatment "helps with de-puffing but, to be honest, it isn't much different than rolling cold ice cubes on your skin or putting spoons in the freezer and applying that on the face."

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The bra underwire conspiracy - In 2017, Goop published an article speculating that underwire in bras could be linked to breast cancer. The article was debunked by many experts, including those at the nonprofit BreastCancer.org.

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The bra underwire conspiracy - Breast cancer surgeon Dr. David Gorski added in an article for Science-Based Medicine that the complete lack of scientific evidence linking the two is as surprising to breast cancer specialists "as the observation that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, water is wet, and gasoline flammable." 

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Paltrow’s personal points - In 2011, she said, "I’d rather smoke crack than eat cheese from a tin." Before that, in 2005, she made the charming comment, "I would rather die than let my kids eat Cup-a-Soup!" Priorities, Gwyn, priorities.

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She’s been called an "extortionist" - Attendees of Paltrow’s 2019 UK wellness summit revolted after being charged US$5,700 to attend what was seen as "a weekend-long Goop sales pitch, while the actress skipped out on some of the festivities."

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She’s been called an "extortionist" - Attendees were reportedly encouraged to book hotel rooms through Goop at US$1,300 for two nights, but later discovered the room rates started at US$250 a night (Goop included a gluten-free breakfast).

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Volunteers apply - At Goop’s luxury wellness summit in Vancouver, for which people paid hundreds to attend, instead of paying for staff, they asked for volunteers. Many called it free labor disguised as an "opportunity." The "position" required standing "for long periods of time" and carrying "up to 30 lbs (14 kg)." Volunteers got a free T-shirt...

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Wellness for the wealthy - Goop has long been mocked as financially inaccessible, despite Paltrow’s claim that "It’s a little bit of a mischaracterization." Some Goop products include US$1,081 mules, a US$120 "Goop exclusive one-of-a-kind leather rugby ball," a US$425 kitchen knife, a US $1,220 casserole dish, and a US$7,425 lamp.

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In Paltrow’s own words -

"I am who I am. I can’t pretend to be someone who makes $25,000 a year," she told Elle UK in 2009.

See also: Lies you've been told about health and wellness

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