Gwyneth Paltrow’s Wellness Lifestyle Brand Hits Netflix In New Controversial Series “The Goop Lab”

Kicking the new year off, Netflix recently debuted a trailer for its newest original show called “The Goop Lab”, a six-episode series that follows Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle content and retail brand Goop. Despite the brand having attracted widespread criticism over the years for its health and wellness claims, news about the upcoming Netflix show has already gone viral online, with fans and haters alike eager to tune in for its expected premiere later this month. 

For those who may be unaware of Goop, it’s actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle and wellness content and retail brand. Started as a newsletter in 2008, Goop has grown into a lucrative business valued at an estimated US$ 250 million in 2018. It boasts over 300 employees, has its own skincare line, an e-commerce shop, physical storefront in London, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and in their latest partnership, Goop is partnering up with worldwide online streaming giant Netflix to launch a new six-episode original series dubbed The Goop Lab. 

While there remains few details about the show, the trailer seems to reveal that it’ll be following Goop’s infamous founder Paltrow and her team in exploring topics that have seen an uptick in the wellness world like energy healing, psychedelics and exorcisms. According to the description provided by Netflix, the series is a “revelatory look at the boundary-pushing theories that can transform our mental, physical and emotional wellness.” 

The partnership with Netflix comes despite the fact that over the years, Goop has faced criticism regarding their health and wellbeing claims about some of their products and treatments. Two years ago, the brand battled penalties for their “unsubstantiated” recommendations that lacked scientific basis, efficacy, and have been recognised by medical experts as potentially misleading. 

Speaking about the brand’s history of controversy at the recent National Retail Foundation’s annual conference in New York, Paltrow said: “I am a huge target. I was an actress, a very visible actress. And then I decided to be a founder and entrepreneur. That rubbed people the wrong way…I have been in the public eye for a long time. I understood inherently that was going to be a part of the journey.”

Whatever the verdict is on the healing power of Goop’s “vagina-scented” candle – which retails for US$ 75 – the news of the upcoming Goop-Netflix show is a clear indication that money is to be made out of Paltrow’s fame, the obsession with wellness and the growing popularity of online streaming. Netflix is already the leading name in the streaming industry with over 158 million subscribers globally, and adding Paltrow’s recognisable name and Goop’s wellness fans to their content roster will only help rake in more viewers and shoppers for both companies. 

Plus, with the middle-class demographic across the world tuning into their health, fitness and wellbeing more than ever before, the premiere of the show is timely. According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness is now a US$ 3.72 trillion dollar industry, and is predicted to continue to grow rapidly, especially in Asia. This will likely mean that the new show, controversy and all, will still attract both skeptic viewers and long-time fans alike.

As the show will only premiere later this month on January 24, we’re left to wonder what The Goop Lab will be introducing to the wellness world next.

Lead image courtesy of Goop / Netflix.