Martha Stewart Takes Jab At Gwyneth Paltrow

Martha Stewart, queen of the cookies and domestic doyenne, says that Gwyneth Paltrow, actress and founder of GOOP, should basically shut up and stick to acting.

“She just needs to be quiet. She’s a movie star. If she were confident in her acting, she wouldn’t be trying to be Martha Stewart,” Stewart said in an interview.

Stewart was referring to Paltrow’s website, GOOP, which, according to the GOOP website itself,

“[GOOP is] an eminent lifestyle publication, dedicated to informing and positively inspiring its audience. Goop gives readers exclusive access to recipes, travel guides, fashion, wellness tips, cultural notes and more. Incorporating the knowledge of expert contributors and tastemakers, along with our own editorial eye and uncompromising style, issues are delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday. Additionally, the publication in its entirety can be found right here on the site at any time, making goop.com a wealth of knowledge and an indispensable resource for all who love to make, go, get, do, be and see.”

Paltrow has garnered a lot of criticism for the unrealistic recipes and other tips she has collected there – from sweatpants that cost $290 to referring to her divorce as “conscious uncoupling.” It seems that people just love to hate Paltrow and GOOP. The GOOP website seems to draw scathing criticism because of the absolute impossibility of many of its recipes and recommendations.

As Salon writes,

“GOOP may not sound like it has much of a market aside from people who really, really like to read about quinoa and $350 yoga pants, but it’s mesmerizingly readable—mostly because of its Marie Antoinette–esque detachment from reality. It’s a glimpse into a magical alternate universe where money is limitless and the most important things in life are selecting the most authentic Corsican spa for a weekend getaway and teaching one’s children to enjoy buckwheat grains…The two defining traits of a Gwyneth Paltrow lifestyle tip are an assumption that the reader is a millionaire with unlimited time on their hands, and a palpable terror of anything that might be classified as fattening.”

Yet, despite having been convicted of a crime and serving five months in jail in 2004 for for obstructing justice during an insider trading probe of her 2001 sale of ImClone stock, Martha Stewart has remained popular. Stewart herself has a reputation for relentless perfectionism, from her homemade center pieces to her homemade pies with their perfect homemade crusts.

Yet Stewart has remained committed to teaching her viewers how to bring beauty into their everyday lives in a budget-friendly way,. In fact, Martha Stewart herself has become a lifestyle brand – with The Martha Stewart Living Show as well as Martha Stewart’s Cooking School, numerous books and her magazine, also entitled Martha Stewart Living. She also has a paint line, a flooring line,and a home furnishing line.

So, Martha Stewart slamming Gwyneth Paltrow…did she go too far, or was it a “good thing”?

[Image via New York Post]