Gwyneth, Amy Odell’s biography of Gwyneth Paltrow, opens with one of the star’s biggest controversies. Not her “overly emotional” Oscars speech, nor her recent ski crash trial, nor her many out-of-touch interview moments. It is, of course, the great jade egg debate of 2017, which erupted after her lifestyle website, Goop, recommended that women should insert these devices inside their vaginas.
Goop espoused the benefits of this process, saying it could “increase vaginal muscle tone, hormonal balance, and feminine energy in general”. Doctors, however, warned about the risk of infection or toxic shock syndrome. Paltrow’s firm was sued, and settled a $145,000 lawsuit for “unsubstantiated” marketing claims. But the website kept selling the jade eggs.
The cult of Gwyneth
Around this time, hate for Paltrow was at its peak. But you need only think back as far as last weekend to see how much her public perception can yo-yo: having appeared in a promotional video for Astronomer, the company where former CEO Andy Byron worked until he was exposed by Coldplay’s kisscam (and Paltrow’s ex-husband, Chris Martin), her popularity stocks were way up. Even if she was probably paid a significant sum for the one-minute clip, according to Odell’s recent newsletter. This is the general theme of Gwyneth (the book, and the person).
Paltrow complained about having to teach her ex-boyfriend Brad Pitt the different types of caviar
From very early childhood, Gwyneth gets picked first. Again and again and again. It can get repetitive, reading about the ease with which she navigates the acting world. The daughter of actor Blythe Danner and producer Bruce Paltrow — and the goddaughter of director Steven Spielberg — Paltrow was a “nepo baby” long before the term was popularised. Throughout the book, she floats into audition rooms, lands roles and is given parts without reading for them. At 26, she wins an Oscar. When she gets bored with acting, she starts a business that’s valued at £250 million 10 years after its launch, because of course she does.
To tell Paltrow’s story, Odell used 220 sources, including the star’s “close current friends and former friends and colleagues”. There are some fantastic anecdotes: Madonna sending a note to a teenage Paltrow telling her to stop smoking; Paltrow complaining about having to teach ex-boyfriend Brad Pitt the different types of caviar; she and Pitt being kicked out of their suite at the Berkeley hotel one night so the late Queen could dine there. The list goes on.
A look into Gwyneth’s gilded life
For the most part, it’s unclear who Odell has actually spoken to and who is telling stories on behalf of someone else. This is masterful in a way, although it very occasionally lends the storytelling a tenuous feel. A few direct quotes from high-profile sources willing to be named would have assuaged this feeling but as Odell notes, this is Hollywood in 2025, this is Paltrow’s inner circle, and this is the era of NDAs.
Odell is a talented journalist and her book is thoroughly researched. It follows her 2022 biography Anna, about Vogue editor Anna Wintour, which was well received, although one reviewer called it “strait-laced” in its refusal to make fun of Wintour’s weirder traits. Gwyneth does not have the same pitfall. Odell is very aware of Paltrow’s ridiculousness and very willing to illustrate how spoilt she has been.
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Sometimes Paltrow’s good fortune is fun to live through vicariously: what a life, to have every door opened for you, to date every man you’ve ever fancied, to explore every job you’ve ever dreamed of. You do feel for her at times: when her father dies; amid her legal battles with her stalker; during her run-in with Harvey Weinstein, when he sexually harasses her in a hotel room. But those moments are few and far between — whether that’s thanks to Odell’s framing, or Paltrow’s genuinely easy ride.
This book will be as polarising as any of Paltrow’s projects. And unless she throws another Astronomer-sized or jade egg-shaped rock to make us all look the other way, its revelations will dominate the headlines for weeks.
Maddy Mussen is a features writer at The London Standard
Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy Odell (out now, Atlantic Books, £20)
