Gwyneth Paltrow

0:02At Goop, so much of what we create begins with curiosity, my own search for the things that truly make life feel richer, more resonant, more alive. Over the years, we've tested, tried, and shared what feels exceptional with the hope of becoming a trusted companion for women as they continue to evolve. This spirit of authenticity and exploration is also at the heart of our partnership with Audemars Piguet as they celebrate their 150th anniversary. For generations, this family-driven maison has pushed the boundaries of what's possible in design and craft, while staying rooted in timeless sophistication.

0:43Like Goop, they believe in honoring tradition while continuously shaping the future, a pursuit I am deeply inspired by and by those who dare to live with intention and imagination. Our philosophy, Always Becoming, is an invitation to pause, to step outside the noise of the everyday, to meet the parts of ourselves we haven't yet discovered. It's about embracing beauty, agency, and creativity at every age.

1:18When you are pioneering anything or introducing new ideas to the culture, you get criticized. You do? Yeah. Did you hear about that? I didn't find the one. I found someone I respected and we made it the one. In the sort of longing kind of view of love, people understand each other as if by magic. Nothing in itself is addictive on the one hand. On the other hand, everything could be addictive if there's an emptiness in that person that needs to be filled. I now know that nobody changes until they change their energy. And when you change your energy, you change your life. I'm Gwyneth Paltrow. This is the Goop Podcast, bringing together thought leaders, culture changers, creatives, founders, and CEOs, scientists, doctors, healers, and seekers here to start conversations because simply asking questions and listening has the power to change the way we see the world.

2:13Here we go. Welcome to the Goop Podcast. I'm Gwyneth, and today I am joined by Zanna Roberts-Rassi. She's a journalist, entrepreneur, and founder of Milk Beauty, who has helped shape the conversation around beauty, style, and identity. I would like to thank Audemars Piguet for making this retreat possible, providing a beautiful moment for all of us to reflect and reset and reconnect with things that really matter. Well, before that, I've got plenty of questions to fire at you. Thank you for sitting here and let me just fire questions at you. Thank you. Thank you so much. So we are all here in this amazing place for an amazing retreat to talk about how we can actually find time for ourselves.

2:59How can we can carve out time for self-care and wellness. And as one of the busiest people, I think we all know, you know, CEO, mother, wife, entrepreneur, how do you find time for yourself? Well, I've gotten really good at building it into my day. I used to feel like my day kind of dragged me by the neck through it. And at a certain point, I think maybe five years ago, I started to take ownership of my day, starting with myself and how I feel. And I get overwhelmed quickly. And to your point, I've got a lot of different areas to manage. Many hats. Many hats. And if I'm trying to do two things at the same time, I kind of fall apart.

3:49So I've become pretty rigorous about like time in the morning for me to meditate and exercise and shower with no phone around. Do you stick with this? I stick with it. Do you really? I really do. How is the temptation though? Or is it just an absolute no, cannot even look? I just, I do emails in the morning when I wake up with coffee and then I put it down for like probably 90 minutes to two hours to meditate and to do all the stuff. Yeah. Do you, so spending time, I think there's something about taking time out and I think a lot of us feel overachievers, but then you almost feel guilty for not doing it.

4:31Do you ever feel that? And if so, how do you kind of combat that when you're not producing all the time? Well, I used to feel, you know, I think that we, so there are a couple of points here. So I think when we don't want to feel our uncomfortable feelings, we become very busy. We do as an act of not feeling. And that's kind of the most fundamental issue and one that I was very guilty of. Like really not wanting to look at the harder aspects of my childhood or parts of myself or difficulties in relationships. So the longer my to-do list got, the more, and wow, wasn't I productive and couldn't I be proud of myself and all the things.

5:23But I sort of came to start seeing this doing as a really detrimental act of like self-harm in a way. Sure. So that's one thing. I think I've had to really put it in its place and understand that all of that doing is coming from a broken place. I'll relate to that. Yeah. I think probably we all can to a certain extent. There's a lot of nodding happening. And I think as well, you know, we have to be careful, too, because then we get really hardwired to do and to get the praise. Like, oh, you work so hard and you're doing it. And it's so great. And it's like that starts to feel like part of our identity and starts to feel really good.

6:12So then we start to question, well, what if I wasn't doing and I wasn't successful or if I wasn't impressive, then what's left? And am I worth anything? Which has also been an interesting thing around aging to reckon with, that for so much of our lives as women, the way we look, our sexuality, our reproductive viability is such a part of our identity in this ego sense. And we don't realize that. We don't realize that underneath we are this just like we are beautiful souls. And we don't need to do anything. We just need to be. So this has been really this unwinding that I've been trying to work on in the last.

7:01I mean, it started when I was 40. So it's been, you know, but I was pretty scared. So this has been an evolving, evolving process. But now when I notice myself doing too much, I know that there's just stuff that I don't want to be feeling. So you recognize it instantly and shift behavior. I try. And I also have a husband that's like, what's going on here? Does he keep you accountable? Yeah, he does. That's great. Very much so. Do you keep him accountable? I do. So we had an amazing session early with Jennifer. And she asked us all a really interesting question. And it really made me think. And I saw a lot of people in the room feeling the same.

7:39So she asked us to close our eyes. And think about if time went on forever, if we had no limits, infinity, what would we change about what we're doing today and how we're using time differently? That's so interesting. Isn't that a great question? Leave it to Jen for you. I know. She made us all. Ask the great questions. What would you do? Infinity, time goes on forever. Oh, that's so, that's like such a scary thought in a way, you know? I mean, I think I would try to focus on not doing the things that make life feel stressful. Yeah. And hard. And that, again, goes back to the same thing of trying to bifurcate parts of yourself and, you know, trying to push certain things down and trying to, you know, achieve things.

8:34Yeah. Being the moment more. Being the present, right, would allow us all to be that way. Definitely. Yeah. I went straight to spend more time with my kids. Yeah. Yeah. My husband just did this very cool show on Netflix that premiered where he interviewed Jane Goodall and he's interviewing these amazing people who are, he interviews them and they know it will be their last ever interview and it doesn't air until they die. It's called Famous Last Words. Excellent. Excellent. And I'm obsessed with this show. And every time he comes home from doing it, you know, he says, everybody says the same thing.

9:13I just wish they had more time with the people they loved, more time with their kids. Not one of them has said, you know, I wish I had published that book or I wish I had won that award or I wish. No, no. It's all about just I wish I had slowed down. I wish I had just savored time with the people that I love. I wish I hadn't gone on that trip and left my, missed my kids play, stuff like that. It's interesting because then Jennifer said to us, if you only had a month left, what would you do then? But actually, it was the same thing, the same answer. Right. For me personally, I was like, well, I'd do the same things if I didn't feel that pressure.

9:56I'd have a lot of sex. Okay. A lot. Just a lot. Brad, it is your life. He is here. It's great. Okay. Okay. As the self-confessed guinea pig, switching gears slightly, self-confessed guinea pig of all things treatments, wellness, what is new? What is happening? What are we really into at the moment? Oh, wow. Okay. We want a list that we're all going to shop straight after this. Okay. From the good website, by the way. Yeah. Well, we don't sell the first thing that I was going to tell you about, which is there's a very cool little gadget that I got recently called heart math. And you, you clip it to your ear and it's an app and it just helps you kind of down regulate your nervous system.

10:42Oh, good Lord. And you see a result on that? Yeah. Yeah. Oh God. I don't know if I want to watch that. No, it's good. It's, it's, it's very good. It just helps. You know, I, I, my nervous system's kind of messed up. So I'm, I'm trying to do some work on my nervous system. I really like that. I, I recently have actually started being less strict with my anti-inflammatory diet, which I was, which I had to be for a few years for, you know, some specific reasons, but it's felt really well to sort of relax a little around, you know, like having a drink once in a while, like not, you know, having some, you know, hot fudge sundae once in a while.

11:26Like, so that's been kind of great. And then I'm really interested in, of course, kind of the popularization of functional medicine, which is something that I was banging on about at Goop for a long time. And it's fantastic to see, you know, because there's so many, so many of us are chronically ill to varying degrees. You know, it could just be chronic inflammation or it could be autoimmune or, and Western medicine is actually not that great with anything chronic. They're great with acute, but less great with chronic. And so it's been so inspiring to see, I've seen so many friends have access to that kind of care.

12:07Now there are all kinds of new companies doing it and it's becoming much more accessible. So I'm, I feel very excited about that. And also this kind of like the democratization of the personalization of medicine because we're all so unique and the idea that one diet or one vitamin d is right for everybody is just not true it's interesting i interviewed you a couple of years ago it's for the today show and you sat there and i asked you about what would be the next wave in wellness and you said exactly that and you talked about the personalization of wellness see that nobody listens to me no one listens then how do you think AI is affecting wellness?

12:47Affecting wellness? I think it's incredible. I mean, so, I mean, I'll caveat that by saying, I think that there is a, like a machinization of, of culture, which is probably not so good, but in terms of having this personalized, like I build these GPTs and where you can de-identify your health data and you can put it all in. And I have the most incredible conversations with this GPT that I built around my health. Wow. We need this prompt. So I can show you how to build it. It's so easy. It's just, you kind of make a project and you just take your name off your documents and then upload them and, But use the paid version so that it doesn't train off your data.

13:40But like, so for things like that and for solving medical mysteries and ongoing things, I think it's going to be amazing. I also think it's going to be great for us because we will need artists, philosophers, thinkers. We will need that more than ever. So I think before AI, I used to worry about my kids going into the arts, which they both want to do. And I used to think, oh, my gosh, it's such a tough career and it's unstable and who knows and all the things. And now that AI is probably going to take a lot of these jobs, we need artists and we need to counterbalance the machines with soul. Absolutely.

14:31The human first. Absolutely. Absolutely.

14:40One of the greatest gifts of this podcast is the chance to sit down with extraordinary people and ask about the paths they've taken, the pivots, the leaps, the lessons. It reminds me that progress is never linear, but a dance between heritage and innovation. the very spirit embodied in Audemars Piguet's 150th collection, and why we chose to partner with them on today's episode. Since their beginnings, Audemars Piguet has reimagined the very idea of watchmaking, creating pieces that not only keep time, but also remind us to step back and see our place in the universe. From perpetual calendars to celestial designs, each one is both timeless and boundary pushing.

15:27Together we wanted to honor the idea of living a life of possibility, of asking what else might be true, what else might be beautiful, what else might be possible. Like Goop, they are dedicated to inspiring dreams, to reminding us that we're part of something larger. So as you listen, maybe allow yourself a little time out, a pause from the noise, a moment to reflect on the power each of us has to shape the future and to become always a little more ourselves.

16:02Okay, so with wellness then, what is something that you may be letting go of or you just haven't got the time for or it's just crap? Well, let's see. I'm trying to think what I've let go of recently. I mean, I usually don't implement something if it's that crap, right? If it doesn't work. But, I mean, I've tried certain things that I have a hard time getting into. Such as? Make us feel better about ourselves and all these things we start and don't finish. I really struggle with the cold plunge. Oh, God, yes. Oh, horrific. I hate it. I understand the benefits. It's so hard. I really have tried.

16:45And I just, I feel like I'm being tortured. Okay, so switching gears, we're winding down for 2025. Yes. How do you create space to reflect, to think about next year, to set goals and intentions? Yeah. I really admire those people and CEOs who like sit down and they, you know, they kind of like have these company-wide PDFs they send out around like next year's, like the inspirational, you know. I don't do that. I mean, I wish I was that person, but. You do it in your personal life? No, I don't. I don't. You could flip through the album, photo album, be like, oh, that was cute. I think I like to sort of reckon with the year and what the lessons were.

17:35Yeah. And especially the harder lessons. So I like to try to make sure I've heard the universe and I understand them so I don't get them again. But I don't know. other than that I I you know what I every what I do love is every Christmas that week between Christmas and New Year and there's like that real old school holiday you know where nobody's working and I that's like always we do it I do it as well for two weeks in August every year I close the whole company and kind of European style and let everybody have the same time off in concert because it's the only way you can really stop. Otherwise, there's no way.

18:18There's always going to be someone sneaking in with an email. There's always. And so I think we all need to be better collectively at work around deciding to take time so that everybody can really have downtime and rest. And that's when I really regenerate. And that is the time where I kind of reflect on the year the most. What are the goals for 2026? One goal. Oh my gosh. I think I would, I, I would really like to, I would like to be more intentional about how I spend my time. I, I, I, I'm, I think I have a bit of ADD and I can really get sort of pulled in lots of directions. I think I would, I would love to try to not do that so much and like feel more grounded throughout the day because I feel like going back to the nervous system and doing all the things, you know, sometimes I'll get, you know, an email or some work thing or there's a problem or an issue and I really take it like it's sort of a slap in the face, you know?

19:28So I would really like to rewire myself so that, you know, medium or bad news doesn't feel so terrible. How did you recognize, you said your nervous system is shot. How did you recognize that asking for a friend?

19:45Well, I think there were a lot of signs, you know, I've, I've, I've lived a very intense life in the public eye for a really, really long time. And so I think whenever we're at the mercy of people's opinions and all the energy behind the opinions. I'm very sensitive, as most of us are, and so I feel that, and it kind of frays my nervous system. I think also my hormonal phase of life. Like I have a lot of anxiety for the first time in my life. Interesting. which is a, you know, like just a symptom of hormonal changes. Oh, yeah. Oh, interesting. Oh, yeah. I think it's an estrogen dominance thing.

20:34It makes you really anxious. Oh, goodness. So there's all kinds of great things for you to look forward to. So part of it is physiological, part of it's psychological, part of it's emotional, and I think it's – and part of it's, you know, a public life. So I think, I don't know why it is that this, in the past couple of years, it's hit me so hard. But I know that there's something wrong because my cortisol is all, like, I'll get in bed exhausted and my heart will start to race. And then I'll, like, have intrusive thoughts, which I've never had in my life ever. Is it interrupting sleep as well?

21:11My sleep is still pretty okay. But it's like, you know, sometimes I wake up first thing in the morning and I'm filled with dread. And I, you know, so this is like not, I wouldn't say it's, you know, it's never been sort of who I am. So there's a lot of parts to it, but definitely there's a big nervous system component. With that said, who's on team support for GP? Like who's on your personal team? Do you have a coach, a therapist? I have two therapists. Excellent. One is a nervous system specialist. I have amazing friends, amazing, amazing, amazing women in my life, like incredible, whom I can call if I, you know, need help.

21:55Jen Fried is one of those people. Incredible friend, mentor, teacher. And then I get a lot of healing from my family, from my kids and my husband. That's your phone a friend. That's my, if I can be with everyone, especially if I, all four kids, my stepkids and my kids and my husband and I if we're under one roof my nervous system calms down so holidays are going to be great I know most people's stress goes off I don't know because we have some other people coming for holidays too oh I want to get into what are the traditions tell us what are the traditions in the household Mm-hmm. Well, during the holidays proper, so I'm half Jewish and half Christian, so we do everything, which I love.

22:42Right. So we have, like, I really, I love Christmas. I love the tree. I love the presents. I love Hanukkah. I love the togetherness. I love the meals. I love the family. I just love everybody. I think what it is is I love that collective thing of everybody agreeing that it's a special time, right? Like a holy time. I love Boxing Day, which doesn't happen in America. Boxing, everyone needs to know what Boxing Day is. We take it from a Brit, right? Will you explain Boxing Day, please? It's the day after Christmas Day, which is essentially you all sit there in your pajamas, eat more food, watch more bad TV, open more gifts again, and drink more.

23:24That's it. That's it. It's fantastic. But it's a national holiday. Yeah, so there's no shops open. There's no shop. Like you literally just sit there and fest. It's heaven. It's wonderful. And eat turkey sandwiches from the day before. That's right. Okay, so you have built a brand around trusting your gut. What was the last time you trusted your gut? I think I trust my gut more and more and more. I think that also when you come from a place of like wanting to please, which I did for the first at least half of my life, it sort of cuts you off from your instincts. Sure. And now that I'm old and I don't give a fuck, I can feel myself so much more, you know, like I can I can feel my opinion.

24:15I can hear my thoughts. I can feel in my cells when something is wrong or right. Almost immediately. Usually immediately. Sometimes it takes me longer. What's the difference between instinct and intuition is the one. So I think intuition is like that deep vibration in your cells that's leading you. And I think instinct is more a reaction. but coming from you know everything that you've learned in your life right so it's a very informed reaction and the other's more primal yes i think so fight or more psychic or more you know connected or something switching gears again okay just keep changing our money you recently went back to the big screen.

25:09Thank God. Marty Supreme. Yes. How did this experience of returning back into that world change from doing it in your twenties? Oh my gosh. It was interesting. You know, I had not done a movie in I think seven years and you hadn't missed it. I hadn't missed it at all. I hadn't really thought about it. What made you do this one? Well, so the last time I was in a movie where I was in every scene of the movie. I was pregnant with my daughter, Apple. Which one was that? It was called proof. It was an adaptation of a play that I did in London, actually. And when I had her, I just thought, okay, I need to downshift.

25:53And I was burnout and I was, you know, running all over the world doing and having a great time. And, you know, but I needed to slow down and then and then I had my son and then I just thought for me you know I I didn't want to go back to it in the same way it's you know when you're doing a film you're away from home a lot and even if you're shooting in the same city where you live you leave before the babies are awake and you come home when they're asleep it's not a regular work day. And even if you're there, your probably mind is elsewhere. It's just very, for me, it was very hard to think about doing that with having kids.

26:38So I did a few supporting parts here there where I could, you know, like when I did Ironman one, it was like three days a week or, you know, it was like felt more manageable, but very selectively. And then they all left me and went to college. So I thought, okay, well, I got this very nice phone call for this very cool movie and nobody was home anymore. So I thought, did you enjoy it? I did enjoy it. It was really, really fun. I loved the director so much. He's a brilliant guy, Josh Safdie and Timothee Chalamet, the star of the movie. Yeah. I'm not going to let you off this one very easily. Okay, that's fine.

27:19From what I've read, I believe it is a little raunchy. I mean, there's a lot of making out and a lot of, you know, there's a few sex scenes and that kind of thing. Gwyneth taught him a thing or two. He's only in his 20s. Well, if you think about when you were in your 20s, what was that Shakespeare in Love? Probably the same age as he is now. Oh, my gosh. That's so crazy. Yeah. What is the biggest risk Gwyneth Paltrow has ever taken in her career? I don't know why I'm asking you in third person, by the way. I think essentially stopping, stopping my film career and, you know, taking this crazy leap to start Goop.

28:00And, you know, this is was like before Instagram, before people like me were doing businesses. It was a big risk, you know, and people thought I was really nuts for doing it. Thank God you wrote that first newsletter from the kitchen table is all I can say. Well, with that said, you actually started, it was recommendations, right? You were telling people like, you know, where to go, what to eat, what to buy. I think just shortcuts, you know, it's like for women with, who are discerning and who are busy and who just want like the quickest road to the best thing. And at the time there was nothing like that on the internet.

28:39And so I wanted to create it for myself and for my friends and for women. And, you know, then everyone was like, what are you going to do with this? And I was like, I don't know. I'd like to make it a business, but I'm not sure exactly what road to take. And I'm really passionate about product. Like I think it's because I really it's like stems from the same ethos. It's like I want to try to find the best of the best thing. And when we were starting to think about it, there was no clean skincare at all. Like there were a couple of brands that were like really granola-y sort of health food store, you know, brands.