Years ago, I remember reading and covering an article about an event Gwyneth Paltrow hosted in support of either her first or second cookbook. It was probably her first, because she went all-out and managed to get all of her famous friends (are there any other kind?) to come out for a special dinner in support of the cookbook. The dinner was for about 70 people, and there were several headlines: one, Chris Martin was being a sucky baby and he didn’t want to be there to support his wife. Two, Jessica Seinfeld was always THE WORST. Three, they really tried to convince people that Gwyneth “cooked” for 70 people. That irritates me. It’s one thing for Gwyneth to claim that she alone “invents” all of these recipes (she does not) all by herself, but it’s another to try to promote this image of Gwyneth as so capable, she can just pull together a dinner for 70 all by herself, just cooking away in her humble kitchen.
All of which to say, I believe Gwyneth cooks. I believe that she goes to her kitchen and makes meals for herself and her children. I believe she experiments and tries out recipes and she enjoys all of that. But I also believe she has a team of people helping her write her cookbooks and, obviously, doing the bulk of the cooking and baking for which Gwyneth takes credit. So with that in mind, Gwyneth did an Instagram Live Q&A session and someone asked her “Do you actually cook?” Gwyneth’s response: “Do I actually cook? Yes, I f–king cook! Goddamnit. You think I would write — you think I would pretend to write cookbooks if I didn’t cook? F—k that person!” The NSFW-for-language video:
this is SENDING ME pic.twitter.com/kJXcSg2DJz
— leana 📌 (@valkyriesnat) August 3, 2019
“You think I would write — you think I would pretend to write cookbooks if I didn’t cook?” Well… kind of? Again, I think she actually cooks… some of it. But the unseen team of helpers, y’all.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Based on headline my short answer is “yes”. Alongg with having peasants chop and prep all the food she “cooks”
Well even chefs don’t chop and prep the food they cook lol.
Chefs don’t chop and prep the food they cook because they’re not prep people. Actually, in many/most commercial kitchens, chefs don’t cook anything at all once the recipe is developed, because they’re the idea people and/or the management people, and the prep team and sous (or cooks, depending on the kind of kitchen) do the actual cooking.
I cook. A LOT. I used to be a chef, and now I’m in another career, and I cook for family and friends all the time. And I prep and chop all of the ingredients I use, which the vast majority of home cooks do. Gwyneth plays in the kitchen. She doesn’t have to ever cook anything, she picks and chooses what she will and will not cook. If she’s chopping, it’s because she’s decided that she feels like chopping today.
She doesn’t cook like most working parents do…that is to say, after a long day at work, trying to get dinner into their family before homework, cleaning up, bathtime, bedtime, and getting ready to do it all again tomorrow. It’s performative cooking.
It was acknowledged that Julia Turshen “co-wrote” at least the first cookbook (and I would bet she did all the heavy lifting on recipe testing etc.), but I’m pretty sure she was asked to step back. All mentions of her work on Gwenyth’s books has been taken off her website.
She looks SO much like her mother in that post. I actually thought her response was funny.
That was my first thought too. As she ages, she looks more and more like Blythe.
I found Goopy’s comment funny as well. And I do believe she cooks and has for 70 people (with help chopping and peeling stuff).
In acting she pretends to be things she isn’t, so why not act like you cook and publish cookbooks. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
I think she cooks but she by no means is so great that she can write her own cookbooks. And yeah, she has help. Personally, I never found the appeal in her others see and yet something must be there because she’s still around. Like an annoying gnat.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Nah I don’t blame her for going off. People slag on her for EVERYTHING. This one thing (her first cookbook was relates to her late father’s recipes) set her off. We all have that thing that will make us go off on someone. This was hers.
I don’t believe this is the fist time she’s ‘gone off’ on someone though. I agree, she protests too much as people call her out for the truth. she cooks for herself, not 70 people. many celebs with books try to say they wrote it not acknowledging they had massive help or a ghost writer. jesus pippa middleton got a book deal and we’ve all seen how talentless she is. you’re famous you get these opportunities not necessarily based on ability
@Meg I think you’re kind of missing the point of WHY she went off. This isn’t about her cooking for 70 ppl – which btw NO ONE does alone not even professional chefs – but about her cooking in general. The question was “Do you ACTUALLY cook?” And that’s what she went off about. This 70ppl thing was brought up HERE. Not the live stream or the question she was asked
Yes, desiccated mediocrity, I think you would lie about your skills. You’re kind of a crook in other respects.
Yes. YES.
She’s an actress. Nuff said.
Why yes, Goopy, I do.
I don’t trust celebs. I mean Kris Jenner put out a cookbook and we all know that entire family has chefs. LOL didn’t Khloe get busted one Thanksgiving for posting pics of her “homemade baked goods” only to later be busted for buying them ???
Yes, she posted pics of impossibly perfect pies and the bakery owner IDed them 😂😂😂
Easy to get busted for that. That whole family is so fake it’s funny. I think GP uses other’s recipes and just changes them up a little and then calls them her own without giving credit.
She didn’t even remember the movie she was in recently. She probably does cook, but she’s as fake and shallow as they come.
Is it the jade egg up her vagina that makes her so defensive?
I think it’s that third arm (in the photo with the starbucks). I’d be an amazing cook too, if had three arms! How convenient!
YES GOOP !!! YES WE DO !!!!
How was that?
Good for her. Gwyneth has ALWAYS talked about cooking- dating back to the Brad Pitt era. And I know her first cookbook was really personal to her since it related to her late father and his recipes. I would have gone off too.
Yup. I can’t believe I am defending Goop but she definitely cooks well. She probably works on her books with a few staff/ recipe development team(not unusual for the sector) but there is ample evidence that she is great in the kitchen.
Yeah, I feel like people are just saying this because its Goop. Would everyone here question whether Chrissy Tiegan cooks/wrote her cookbook?
Not to be a Gwyneth apologist, but I will say this–my friend is a PA in Los Angeles and she’s worked with all kinds of celebs. She worked with Gwyneth Paltrow on some kind of game show about apps (I don’t think it got picked up). My friend said that Gwyneth was actually really down to earth and easy to work with, and that she also really went to bat for her people. It kind of made me look at ‘ole Goop in a different light because I was expecting to hear the exact opposite.
I spent a summer working in the hamptons a few years ago and I became friends with an old PA of her’s and Chris’s when they were still married. This woman didn’t have enough kind things to say about both of them, she said they were both incredible
I see her from time to time in the Hamptons and have been at the same charity events. She’s a bit insufferable at times and can be full of herself, but so can 98% of the population there (including me, lol) and she does some very active work for charity, so there’s that. She’s relatively harmless as long as you don’t take most of her advice.
So, wait, is she admitting she pretended to write her cookbooks? Her wording confuses me. She DOES cook, though. And cooks well. And she is actually more than capable of cooking for a crowd. Her cooking is the one thing I would take as genuine.
I know people who have worked with her as well and she’s always been described as a genuinely kind person. It’s why I have never jumped on the Gwyneth hate train.
That’s really nice to know. Thanks for sharing.
@VV I believe she is well intentioned and kind and a good friend. However a quack is a quack. Making money off of the pseudo medical part of goop is NOT ok and that is a hill I will die on. Her fashion and beauty lines fine. But her supplements, eggs, wristbands NO.
Hahahaha love me some goop
Pretending = Acting so yea yea I would believe it , and you’re right Gwynnie GFY !! Lol Bish post the pictures of you all day and night cooking for 70
Because that’s what it takes . PICTURES OR IT DISlDNT HAPPEN. In fact, live-streams the shot next time #IDareYou
you think I would pretend I invented cooking if I didn’t? F—k that person!”
That’s right! I’m so sorry I totally forgot she invented fire way back when. She got so damn tired carrying everything for her tribe (logs, dead animals) she invented the wheel. Crouching at a fire all day and night was just awful for her hairy complexion, she whipped up some electricity, and was literally shocked how much time it took to clean up her appearance. I’m simply in awe and so very thankful for her life-changing inventions, and I’d never survive without refrigeration and air conditioning.
I know, right? Thanks to her, we’ve learned to use spoons to stir boiling pots instead of our hands! (Full disclosure: that line is lifted from King of the Hill.)
Random:
Recently discovered Kate Beckinsale & Mark Strong “Emma”, and can’t comprehend how on earth Paltrow version is more popular/exist!?!
Did you say Mark Strong??
::rushes off to all of her streaming devices::
Look, I’m sure she can cook. I’m certain she does cook here and there but she doesn’t Chrissy Teigen cook so…
But I do genuinely believe she cooks her father’s recipes. There are just some things in life that bring you back to a beloved person you lost. I have no doubt she cooks these things and feeds them to her children as a way to connect her father and her children. It’s human nature.
She probably cooks like my kids.
I go grocery shopping, I buy, haul, measure, clean, chop, dispose and my kids sort of come in and give it a stir , get bored and then leave me with all the cleanup and putting away.
i’m sure she cooks, and I imagine she’s probably good cook too. Being a good cook isn’t the same thing as cooking for 70 people for a dinner, but yeah, I think she cooks.
+1
Cracking one of those vaginal eggs and whipping up a GOOP omelette you peasants.
Cracking one of those vaginal eggs and whipping up a GOOP omelette you peasants.
Ummmmm Yes. Also yes, furthermore…yes
Well, you pretend to be healthy in order to dispense fake health advice… BTW, how’s the osteopenia that you got in your 30’s because your diet sucks?
Her first book was mostly really simple recipes that could very easily be made to feed a crowd. I’d have no problem believing she actually cooked from that book for 70 people. This wasn’t fancy food she’d have to slave over and plate up carefully, it was largely just stuff like easy soups and 5 ingredient pasta dishes and one bowl cake. Anyone who can cook could cook that stuff for 70.