Gwyneth Paltrow is in on the Goop joke, she said, dismissing criticism of her lifestyle site during a panel discussion at Cannes Lions on Wednesday.
“We’ll link to a $15,000 gold dildo just to troll people,” she said of ultra-expensive products often featured on the site and then discussed by other media outlets. “It’s fun. We look for products that will create that kind of reaction.”
Goop has a wide range of price points, Paltrow pointed out, despite a common criticism that it’s geared towards a wealthy audience. “It’s an easy criticism to make,” she said. The site is aspirational for sure, but “it’s not a luxury site,” she emphasized. “It’s not about some lofty unattainable lifestyle whatsoever.”
She said the values of the Goop brand are family, good food, wellness and non-toxic beauty. She said she hopes Goop can create its own organic and non-toxic products in the future.
“People think I just eat seaweed and a bit of air,” she joked, saying that she does eat junk foods and focuses on enjoying life with balance. “I think there is a tendency to generalize, and that’s OK. I completely accept that’s my path and that’s what I’m here to do. I’m here to ask questions and sometimes piss people off.”
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She also addressed a 2013 poll that identified her as Hollywood’s “most hated” celebrity. “More than like Chris Brown? What did I do?” she asked the audience. But while Brown might have a criminal record, her history as a Hollywood princess can anger people, she admitted.
“There is the perception that I grew up very wealthy … and raised with a silver spoon in my mouth,” she said. She pointed out, though, that when she left college to pursue acting her father cut her off financially. “I didn’t have a trust fund. So it’s not accurate, but I can see how someone would have that perception.”
The Oscar-winner credited her success to timing “and a bit of talent.” Her first role was in godfather Steven Spielberg’s Hook.
But at this point in her career, she thinks of herself primarily as a businessperson, saying she will do only one film next year.
Asked if she would follow the lead of Charlize Theron, who demanded to be paid the same as her Huntsman: Winter’s War co-star Chris Hemsworth, Paltrow said Hollywood’s pay scale is not always unequal.
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“I think philosophically it’s very important. I think part of it is a chauvinistic aspect to it. But I also think there are, in a case like Charlize, she deserves to be paid as much if not more. But there are certain cases where they are using different metrics in order to determine prices for people. It’s not always gender-based. I think there are other factors,” she said.
Responding to recent comments from Salma Hayek that unequal pay is “criminal,” Paltrow said it didn’t reflect the reality of her career, calling it “a special time” in the industry.
“There were a lot of indie films being made with robust budgets and a lot of female stories,” she said, arguing there are fewer female films today.
And Paltrow discussed striking a balance between charity work and a life of luxury.
“You can want to help children who are disenfranchised and don’t have a voice and can’t stick up for themselves and also eat a nice dinner and enjoy the people you love. They’re not mutually exclusive,” she said.
She also said she is proud of bringing the much-derided term “conscious uncoupling” into the popular lexicon, adding that many people have thanked her for the idea of remaining friends and family through a divorce.
