A few weeks ago, Gwyneth Paltrow brought her “Goop Summit” to London. She’s held these Goop Summits before, and they must be a major moneymaker for Gwyneth. Basically, she charges rich white women thousands of dollars to get in the door, then those women can also pay extra for sh-t like crystals that improve your acne, or stickers which heal your Parkinson’s or whatever. It’s the most elite con, the most exclusive snake oil. Personally, I’m more offended at the Goop site, because the internet is egalitarian and peasants might read one of the Goop posts and get confused with all of the pseudoscience mumbo-jumbo. But the Goop Summits are exactly what they’re supposed to be: dumb sh-t for rich bitches only.
If you’re stupid enough to pay $5000-9000 on Goop’s snake oil, then you deserve to lose that money. All of which to say, the rich bitches in London were apparently quite upset with the Goop Summit. They thought Gwyneth was a “f–king extortionist” for how shady and weird everything was. Yeah, duh. That’s the con. Which is basically what Tracy Anderson said in defense of her BFF and business partner Gwyneth:
Tracy Anderson is defending longtime pal and business partner Gwyneth Paltrow after Paltrow got heat from some attendees who said her $5,700 Goop conference in London was a Goopy rip-off. Anderson, who appeared at the Goop fest, told us: “It’s just options. She’s not telling anyone what to do, or what to wear.”
She added of the high prices: “My gyms are $900-a-month. I have been criticized time and time again, but if people really understood the craftsmanship it takes to run custom prescriptions programs at that level — in the real estate I’m in — they would understand that opportunity has a price tag. It’s just the system we live in.” Anderson added, “I also … make sure I have $9.99 DVDs. I am creating options, and Goop is also creating options.”
The Goop London session included a workout with fitness trainer Anderson, plus a sound bath, tips on how to “hydrate mindfully,” and a store with fare such as a $55 vibrator called “the Millionaire.” Anderson, who launched a capsule collection with Barneys this week, said of the backlash, “Everyone has a voice now on social media — if you are too negative, people are going to start shutting down and communities are going to be destroyed instead of built up.”
“I have been criticized time and time again, but if people really understood the craftsmanship it takes to run custom prescriptions programs at that level — in the real estate I’m in — they would understand that opportunity has a price tag. It’s just the system we live in.” Which is true, in a sense. Rich women want to be catered to and they’ll pay more to have exclusive feelings, exclusive workouts, exclusive exhaustion, exclusive care, exclusive pampering. If Tracy didn’t do it, someone else would. If Gwyneth hadn’t exploited this niche demographic so thoroughly, someone else would have too. You’re not paying thousands of dollars to learn new things at the Goop Summit, you’re paying thousands of dollars to be part of an exclusive club of ignorant rich women being validated by Gwyneth Paltrow and Tracy Anderson.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
“Hydrate mindfully,” snort.
I don’t need someone to give me tips on how to, you know, lift my arm and drink water. Good gravy…
Is that what they’re calling cheek fillers now??
I have to say that while Gwen is the ultimate con artist, I have zero sympathy for the women at her summit. I mean come on people!
so many people play that con on young women with moderate salaries or little money, so i save my outrage for them. too many young people wasting their money on the next great thing, and most of the crap seems aimed at improving women’s looks in particular. disgusting.
Right? A fool and their money and all that.
I’m not mad- grifters gonna grift. Fyre Festival it up. Get that dummy money.
Dummy money lmao
DUMMY MONEY. LOL. Yes. I’m not mad either. Sort of impressed actually/
I defend people’s right to spend their money on junk. I ain’t mad at her.
For a while one of my friend was working in a luxory shop in Paris, and she used to invite me there because she had a special employee reduction. I bought some cute, small stuff at “reasonable” price, then once I asked her about the crazy prices they had, her answer was: there are a lot of customers who think that under 1000€ it’s not good, so we have to keep our price beyond reasonable, event when the pieces are awful.
Same for Goop. Those women go there, and then complain about extortion. PLEASE.
Yes, the cognitive dissonance is strange to me. I’m not sure I even believe the extortion comment. I mean people saw the pice tag before signing up, I assume.
I think if the price was cheaper they wouldn’t even think about attending to the event, they went there because it is expensive and in their bored rich minds “exclusive”, and then they complain. No pity from me. They got exactly what they deserved.
I think you’re correct Eleanor. A lot of women believe that the more expensive a health or beauty product or service is, the better it is. I was watching a documentary yesterday about skin health (skin being our largest organ), and they got on to the subject of moisturising. They mentioned this phenomenon of higher price = greater benefit. The consensus from the dermatologists was unanimous: the best moisturiser is the one with th fewest ingredients, but should contain glycerine. They advised that sorbolene wth 10% glycerine is the best, and petroleum jelly is also excellent. But they are very simple and cheap products, so put a lot of women off. My sisters and I were blessed with great skin genes. My older sister and I have only ever used sorbolene and/or petroleum jelly, but as my younger sister loves to pamper herself, she’s only ever used expensive products. There’s no visible difference between any of us, and despite me being 4 years older, people still tell me that they think I’m younger than my sister, because my skin is so good. As I said, good genes are the main reason, but there’s no way a no-fuss person like me is going to waste money on con jobs. However, it’s not just Paltrow. In my opinion, the entire health and beauty industry is a massive con job.
The people that throw money at Goop to somehow make their lives better have a lot in common with the people who send money to televangelists for prayers.
Pfffft! What a bunch of tools. Honestly, filthy rich people make me crabby when I hear the crap they throw money at. WTH? How about they donate that money to a charity?
Grifters gonna grift is correct. If somebody is that dumb..they deserve to be conned.
Yup, I have no sympathy for stupid rich bitches throwing their money away, it just makes me sad that they didn’t donate it and made a real difference.
To be fair, many of the donate hefty amounts to charity.
It is a fact that there are ppl of a certain wealth who are put off by non exclusive pricing.
I met many ppl like this years ago when selling handmade jewellery at festivals and fairs and lost sales for the simple fact that I priced items too low for what they considered to indicate quality. Regardless of the actual quality of or labour that goes into an item. These ppl suck and are generally unpleasant to deal with.
Gwyneth epitomizes this type of person to me.
Which is ridiculous, because if you are smart and have a discerning eye you don’t need a price tag to judge quality.
Rich, bored, women, without aim or confidence. Think for yourself, don’t listen to Goop for life advice. Crystals won’t cure your boredom. UV facials won’t give your life meaning. Mindfully drinking water won’t make you a better version of you.
Scammers of a feather grift together!
Those two are a match made in pretentious grifting hell.
$900/month for a gym membership? Don’t forget Tracy got her start scamming people at a gym years ago.
I don’t feel one bit of sympathy for anyone foolish enough to give Gwenyth money, but I’m so sick of her pushing this usually ridiculous, occasionally harmful nonsense.
That’s my monthly mortgage payment. Like I would pay that for a gym membership.
Right? That’s $30 A DAY. For what???
Meh. It’s not like these type of wellness summit things are anything new, and the most luxurious of them have always cost this much. I’ve heard of some that cost $15,000+ for the weekend. It’s crazy money, but anyone who pays it is obviously loaded, so who cares? It’s not like they’re preying on vulnerable people, they’re clearly targeting the 1%.
The people who went and complained about the prices are idiots. They had all the details on the prices and the events and they got what was advertised. If they paid and then regretted their choices that’s their own stupid fault.
When is this going to show up on “American Greed”?
Lol!!!
So the difference is that exercise has numerous evidenced based scientific and medical health benefits. Of course you don’t have to pay $900 per month to exercise, but for rich people that amount is mad money/chump change etc and if they want to pay that to exercise, whatever. Goops stuff is pure snake oil. I don’t know why Tracey Anderson would want to attach her brand to that.
My question for Goop is: isn’t she rich enough? Why does she “need” to do this crap? Why not just rest on her multi-millions from her family, career and whatever she got/is getting from the ex and the new husband? Why isn’t enough enough?
Can’t feel superior if you aren’t excluding people personally.
Not sorry. This stuff if for women with more money than brains. They WANT to be doing something the peasants can’t do, something exclusive for them. And here they have it. I don’t like Tracy or Gwyneth, but Tracy’s got a point. Not mixing with peasants comes with a price lol
1. I feel like there are a lot of new posters who are definitely PR moles (not just on this article). We all agree and disagree, but usually there are discussions on it. These one liners just scream unpaid intern, especially since they are the opposite of what has been the general census of the board in previous discussions. Is GP the next Putin agent?
2. Opportunity should not have a price tag. Entitlement does. Privilege does. True opportunity should be open to all. It’s sad that this is where we are, and it’s being defended as “get that money”.
3. If I were a serious trainer, the last thing I’d want is my name connected to snake-oil-in-places-it-don’t-belong saleswoman GP. But then again, Tracy Anderson.
A sound bath?! Oh my GOOP. Hydrate mindfully? What happens if you hydrate absentmindedly? Do I have to pay $5000 to find out?
NYer here. From my experience of 20 years in the midst of prime GOOP clientele, let me tell you – these women pay for proximity to fame. The reason they are so pissed is because they didn’t get as much access to Gwyneth as they thought they would. G called it in and didn’t give them the time of day. In NY, people will buy a plate at the table not because they particularly care about the charity, but because they can sit with someone famous who is hosting the event. It’s all about the IG pic with the celebrity and then a hashtag about the charity.
And I’m guessing it’s also about seeing your photo in the society pages of the newspaper the next day, along with the photos of the celebs who were there.
“understand that opportunity has a price tag. It’s just the system we live in.”
Chilling words.