The first time I met Gwyneth Paltrow was at the opening night of her goop pop-up shop in Dallas, Texas, circa 2014. A reporter for the city mag at the time, I had a chance to interview the Margot Tenenbaum. I had just dressed up as Margot for a costume party (Margaux as Margot, get it?) and asked her, Joan Rivers-style, who wore it better. She told me she did. Valid! Who knew that a few years later I’d be working as an Assistant Beauty Editor at goop’s satellite office in New York?
Now an Associate Beauty Editor at ELLE, I chatted with my former boss’s boss this week to talk about Xeomin. Billed as the “clean” neurotoxin for frown lines (it’s been purified through chromatography to only contain the necessary molecules to treat tissue), Paltrow announced this week that she’s the new smooth, glowing, Microderm-ed face of the brand.
How does Xeomin align with the goop lifestyle and brand?
Xeomin is a clean, like the cleanest, sort of goopy version of something like this that exists. And also for the reason that we really believe at goop that a woman should be entitled to make any choice about her health or her appearance that she wants to make, and to not be judged by it in the process.
Do you think that having work done and being in control of moments like this is an act of feminism?
I think the act of feminism is the lack of judging yourself more than anything else. Being completely autonomous in your choices, in the face of criticism or judgment, is the most brave act of feminism to me.
So you have a candle smells like your vagina, and you have candle that smells like your orgasm. What is your next candle going to smell like?
I really want a candle that’s “This smells like my W.A.P.” but.. nobody seems to think it’s a good idea but me.
People always seem to have a problem with women talking about their bodies. Cardi B. talking about her W.A.P., you with your candle. Even women talking about having work done. What’s going to change to make it where people stop being so upset with women talking about their bodies?
It’s all part of the crumbling patriarchy. And I think that we’re all changing it by releasing like a punk rock, feminist candle and Cardi B. is changing it by her incredible lyrical prowess. You have to push, you have to go too far. You have to have a W.A.P. song or a “Smells Like My Vagina” candle. So people are like, what is this? And they freak out. And then the center moves a little bit more this way. It’s a process that happens over time. But women, especially my generation, and my mother’s generation, we were raised to feel so uncomfortable with ourselves and it’s bullshit. It’s not cool. We have to be integrated and love ourselves, love every part and integrate all of the parts of ourselves. So I think it’s a good part of the process.
What’s the greatest lesson that you hope that Apple learns from you?
I just want her to value herself. And not walk around holding shame. Because I think that’s actually an incredibly destructive force in a young girl’s life. I want her to feel good about who she is, and I think that when children feel, not that she’s a child anymore, but when kids genuinely feel good about themselves, they make choices from a good place.
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Is it the same lesson for Moses?
It’s the same. The only thing that’s a little bit different for my boy is that I want him to feel that it’s okay to be expressive emotionally. I saw so many men of older generations be taught not to be expressive and not to share vulnerability. And I think it actually hurts men because boys are so sensitive and taught to not cry. I want him to be able to take care of himself and to be okay feeling vulnerable when he wants to feel that way.
Final question. Is there anything that you want to say to the haters?
Not really. I don’t think about them very much.
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