“I need
to lose a few pounds of holiday excess” she told me before describing
her gruelling Master Cleanse……
…….“Excess?” I exclaimed. “Gwyneth, you
don’t need to lose any weight! Your body is a wonderland!”
See? I’m supportive like that. I really meant to put those words of encouragement in a reply to Gwyneth but I forgot to hit send. No matter. As one of the 150,000 people who subscribe to Gwyneth’s free weekly newsletter called GOOP (which is derived from a nickname based on her initials and carries the tagline, Nourish The Inner Aspect), my silence won’t be too devastating.
Thankfully, she’s not dieting anymore. No more vegie juice and GOOP poop. “The cookie” she wrote this week. “Butter. Brown sugar. Chocolate. I’ve rounded up some of my all-time faves, the ones that you find on my kitchen table most often. Bliss.”
So why does a millionaire Oscar-winning actress want to email ordinary shmucks like me with her personal recipes, book suggestions, spiritual musings and travel tips?
Altruism? Maybe. Creative expression? Certainly. Or is it an attempt to re-invent herself as a younger, hipper Martha Stewart lifestyle guru? Whatever. It’s certainly freaking out a lot of people.
Gwyneth insists her motivations for starting GOOP were simple and harmless. “I felt like I had a lot of really useful information that I was privileged enough to get, because I have this amazing, super, fortunate life” she told People magazine, “My friends call me all the time to say, ‘Where should I go?’ or ‘What should I do?’ And I thought, you know maybe some other people would be interested in it as well.”
Top Comments
Last year, I personally created a simple ‘wedding blog’, a website with my own diary entries / blogs, and information on my suppliers etc., primarily to keep my friends and family up to date (rather than field dozens of “so have you chosen your flowers’ questions each week). These websites are incredibly popular in the States, and are gaining popularity in Australia.
Well, after passing the address (www.mynameandhisname.com) out to a handful of friends and family, within weeks, I was getting literally HUNDREDS of hits every day. I received dozens of emails from complete strangers telling me how TRAGIC I was, and how DARE I create such a self-indulgent website, and who on EARTH would want to marry a psychotic freak like myself. Interestingly, the emails always referred to tiny mentions and comments I had written within posts, leading me to believe that these people each spent at least 2 hours reading my blog, before having the audacity to tell ME that I had no life!
These freaks were taking the time to send vicious hate mail, after thoroughly reading my website (a person they did not know!) and they said that I was the one with no life?!
My wedding wasn’t tacky or OTT. It rung in at an average cost for an Australian wedding, and was featured in a top bridal magazine. My blog posts were NEVER whingy or bitchy, nor were they OTT with excitement. They were simply a recording of the planning of our wedding, recorded for my personal friends and family.
I also got a decent handful of emails praising the site, saying that they enjoyed reading it, and wishing me luck for the wedding. I still, to this day, cannot comprehend why I received such a massive following (good and bad) and such awful hate-mail.
In the first few days, before I disabled comments, I also received dozens of anonymous comments (e.g. “you stupid vain bitch, get a life, I know your fiancé and he sleeps with sluts every weekend). It blew my mind.
What motivates people to be so cruel to people that they do not know?
Yep - new site build underway. With forums! Watch this space.....and tell me what else you might like....will see if I can oblige....