Book Review: ‘Gwyneth’ is a portrait of a pioneering and polarizing ‘It girl’ and wellness mogul

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“Gwyneth: The Biography,” Amy Odell’s thorough portrait of Gwyneth Paltrow, splits her life and career into two distinct periods: the rise (and fall) of the quintessential ’90s Hollywood “It girl,” and her transformation to wellness mogul with the creation of lifestyle brand Goop.

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.

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