Book Review: ‘Gwyneth' is a portrait of a pioneering and polarizing ‘It girl' and wellness mogul
In both phases, she struggles with likeability in the press and from the public, often coming across in interviews as elitist and out of touch with 'normal' Americans. But that hasn't stopped her from succeeding on both fronts.
Blond, glamorous and patrician, Paltrow is the ultimate nepo baby, the daughter of actor
Blythe Danner
and TV producer
Bruce Paltrow,
acting from an early age at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts.
In the first half of the book, Odell charts Paltrow's rise from chain-smoking party girl at elite New York private school Spence to Hollywood 'It girl.' She starred in 1990s classics like ' Emma,' 'Sliding Doors' and
'Shakespeare in Love,'
for which she won an Oscar at 26. She was on the cover of Vogue and constantly in the tabloids with movie star boyfriends like
Brad Pitt
and Ben Affleck.
But she eventually soured on Hollywood and turned to her burgeoning interest in lifestyle and wellness. She started Goop as a newsletter in 2008.
Goop promoted some dubious wellness theories and was hit with the same press bashing as she had gotten as an actor.
'Gwyneth has, to her extraordinary credit, found a way to be even more annoying,' the Guardian wrote when Goop launched in 2008.
But Odell — who didn't have access to Paltrow or any close family or friends, but based the book on more than 200 interviews with people who know or worked with Paltrow — shows Paltrow has a masterful control of her image, working negative press to her advantage.
At Goop, a $66 jade egg meant to be inserted vaginally and a $75 candle called 'This Smells Like My Vagina' were ridiculed in the press — and sold out in short order.
When Goop launched a travel app, an advertiser sponsored it with the promise that it would reach 10,000 downloads. 'Call it G. Spotting,' Gwyneth told an executive, according to Odell. 'Everybody will make fun of me for being an idiot and we'll have the 10,000 downloads we need right there.' It worked.
'Gwyneth: The Biography' is a satisfying read about the pioneering and polarizing actor and business woman.
___
AP book reviews:
https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Epoch Times
an hour ago
- Epoch Times
‘How Thoughts Become Things': More Thoughts on 'The Secret'
Based on the popular New Age philosophy-based book 'The Secret,' this follow-up documentary is dedicated to only one aspect of the secret of human existence. 'Think and Grow Rich,' by Napoleon Hill, is a book many Americans are familiar with. Similar to its premise, the documentary 'How Thoughts Become Things' explores the human ability to shape our destinies by using the power of our thoughts.
Axios
7 hours ago
- Axios
AI slop is ruining all of our favorite places to scroll
An AI-generated video of rabbits jumping on a trampoline that went viral this week — and was widely believed to be real — proved even cute animal vids aren't safe from convincing slop machines. Why it matters: All the fake AI-generated content online is sapping the joy of casual scrolling. It's not just animal vids. Hobbyists say genAI is ruining gardening forums, knitting communities and the entire DIY aesthetic on Pinterest. AI-generated images lack the imperfections that make these community connections relatable. Vogue ran an ad featuring an AI model in its August print issue and readers called the ads hollow and accused them of stealing jobs from models and photographers. Fake influencers have been slipping into our feeds for a few years now, but they're getting harder to spot now that image generators have mastered fingers — though they still struggle with knees. Driving the news: The latest viral video in question features outdoor night camera footage of the bounding bunnies, which was quickly debunked. The tell-tale signs: lack of continuity, defying physics, and a glitchy video timer. Young people online expressing their fear that falling for the bunnies made them feel old quickly became a trend. Between the lines: AI-generated oddities are showing up in our feeds more often because they're lucrative for creators. The weirder it is, the more time we spend looking at it, signaling the algorithm that we want to see more like it. If we watch content over and over again or stop scrolling to see if an image or video shows the signs of being AI-generated, that's more fuel for the algorithm. Engagement — especially confusion-driven engagement — is valuable. Catch up quick: Images and videos generated with OpenAI, Google and Meta's sophisticated free or cheap AI tools are swamping the internet and fooling even the savviest scrollers. This particular brand of synthetic content is called AI slop because it oozes into and potentially suffocates human-made media. Others argue it's more nuanced. Slop isn't new either, Ben Kusin, founder of AI studio Kartel, told Axios. He points to shows like America's Funniest Home Videos as evidence that what some call "slop" has existed long before generative AI. "AI has democratized the ability for people to make that at scale," Kusin said. "It's going to create a net negative effect," Kusin argued. It's a deluge that's no longer manageable, he said. Zoom out: We appear to be adapting and growing more comfortable with AI-generated content overall. What to watch: Platforms themselves must stop incentivizing the slop, Kusin explained.
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Corporate America is not falling for the left's outrage over Sydney Sweeney's ‘good jeans' ad
The left is trying its best to stir up a furor over the recent Sydney Sweeney jeans (or is it genes) TV commercial to ignite a backlash similar to the Dylan Mulvaney-Bud Light debacle. Sorry progressives, it ain't happening. Yes, there's lots of chirping from lefty columnists, purple-haired TikTok influencers, late-night hosts who are still employed, and assorted wokesters after American Eagle had the audacity to feature the attractive blond, blue-eyed actress expressing her sartorial flair in a pair of tight-fitting blue jeans. Advertisement 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color . . . my jeans are blue,' the 'Euphoria' star says. The ad ends with a voice-over: 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.' Blond women? Blue-eyed? Good genes (I mean jeans)? Oh, the horror! That's if you are listening to the leftist commentariat that still hasn't piped down weeks after the spot first appeared. The lefties are freaking because they think the jeans company is looking to bring back the bad old days, pre-George Floyd of course, when white blond oppressors ruled over American culture. Advertisement It's all very Hitler-like to the progressive numbskull class, but not to just about every other segment of American society. Most Americans of all colors and genders either don't care, or they know good genes and jeans when they see it. I know this based on lots of reporting on the mind virus known wokeness — the progressive orthodoxy that embraces everything from cultural Marxism, DEI and, of course, the oppressor-oppressed theology. We are a diverse country, and that's good. The wokesters take it to a level that excludes rather than includes. Good-looking white people, particularly if their hair is that evil shade known as blond, are nowhere near the intersectional matrix they demand for hiring or image making in their version of America. Advertisement That's why Sydney Sweeney, known more for her cleavage than her politics, has become a touchstone in our culture wars, and here's why the attacks won't work: Wokeness was once big in the business world, but notice my use of the past tense. Corporate America listened to these kooks for many reasons, including their own progressive management leanings, with disastrous results. They learned the hard way that most Americans of all races hate being proselytized with political dogma, particularly of the left-wing variety that pushes the limits of identity and gender politics beyond cultural norms. I chronicled this spectacle with a healthy dose of schadenfreude in my book 'Go Woke Go Broke: The Inside Story of the Radicalization of Corporate America.' Just a few short years ago, DEI was the norm; so was radical environmentalism pushed by asset managers through something called ESG investing. It was difficult finding a straight man or woman — God forbid a blond — who survived the Madison Avenue woke censor machine. Budweiser thought its customers were ready for a commercial featuring a half-naked trans woman in a bubble bath. Disney decided it could sell more kids programming featuring same-sex kissing scenes. Money managers like BlackRock thought they could increase returns by advocating environmentalism and de facto racial quotas on their portfolio companies. Advertisement All of the above resulted in some of the biggest brand-destroying disasters in modern business history. Marketing is a lot like politics. It's a business of addition, not subtraction. You build customers just like you attract voters, through messaging that unites rather than divides — or customers flee. There are exceptions, of course. Niche brands like Ben & Jerry's ice cream attempt and succeed at targeting the tree-hugger demo. Try this stuff on a mass audience and you will get the beatdown of the century. The predictable customer revolt impacted the businesses of Budweiser, Disney and BlackRock in such a measurable way that shareholders revolted, too, forcing some of the most progressive CEOs in the world to course-correct. That's why the Sydney Sweeney uproar will go nowhere with the people who matter most: Most American consumers, and American Eagle shareholders. Unless you're stretching it like Silly Putty, there's nothing inherently political about a pretty blond (dare I say 'All American'-looking) woman in jeans and pointing out the health of her genes to sell stuff. Zero. Zilch. Otherwise, Pamela Anderson would have been a poster child for Aryan Nations instead of the 'Baywatch' babe most American men and many women adored, and still do. Shares of American Eagle are up since the Sydney Sweeney ad ran, despite the backlash. NYU Marketing Professor Eitan Muller points out the obvious, telling Fox Business's Teuta Dedvukaj that the commercial 'attracts attention, drives Google searches, and boosts the brand. Yes, she does have great genes — and it rings authentic. That's what you want from an ad.' My bet: You will be seeing a lot more of Sydney Sweeney. Most men will be rejoicing, many women will buy the company's jeans. Management will be rewarded with higher sales and a stock price that matches. The attacks will ultimately fail for the same reason Mulvaney's tenure as a spokeswoman for Bud Light was so short-lived. Recall: The nation's Number 1-selling beer dropped to Number 3 and never recovered. Sydney Sweeney has both good jeans and genes and there's nothing the wokesters can do to change that reality.
