This is what struck me about my friend Gwyneth Paltrow

I didn’t follow the court case between Gwyneth Paltrow and retired optometrist Terry Sanderson in Utah.

Surely, when it comes to ski accidents, we should all simply be relieved everyone gets out alive? But more importantly, I feel very strongly that how it’s been reported and spoken about – across some press outlets and social media – demonstrates a mean and distasteful strand of our culture.

My level of disgust with this modern day coliseum leaks out at those who have recently sent me reels of Gwyneth’s recent dietary choices, believing I will find them funny. I don’t.

Gwyneth is my friend, and I find it hurtful. Ironically – I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care.

The first time I met her was when she came on my podcast, The Happy Vagina in 2019.

A mutual friend had put me on her and Goop’s radar several months earlier, and there had been various discussions about how we might work together to support and further our causes. We both feel passionately about campaigning and breaking down barriers and taboos surrounding women and intimacy.

I sent Gwyneth a direct message saying, ‘Would you like to come on my podcast?’ She replied saying, ‘That would be so cool’.

Six months later it was happening. The recording was part of a long press day for her in LA, and she arrived a little late and extremely apologetic, but she was so engaging and extremely good fun.

The thing that struck me the most was her response to my question about how she stays resilient. To which she replied: “Even if people have a different opinion to me, I just want everyone to be totally, radically comfortable with themselves.”

I think that’s what makes Gwyneth a far more superior person than the many naysayers who have been criticising her.

We had fantastic feedback from our community of listeners with many saying the interview completely smashed any preconceived ideas they’d read, an that they could tell Gwyneth was a woman who loved other women.

I felt the same. Having got to know her, I would suggest that she knows who she is, doesn’t need you to like her and she definitely wouldn’t waste her time making reels or creating content that is negative about another human being.

The greatest threat today, it would seem, is the free thinker. And Gwyneth, if nothing else, is that. She is, sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly, going about her life and doing exactly what she wants to with it, undeterred by anyone else’s opinion, pushing the boundaries in both products and thinking around women’s health, experimenting so we don’t have to, and humble enough to sometimes say, “I don’t know”.

Recently, while on my book tour, I attended an intimate dinner with her and a handful of other female founders in Los Angeles. It was for the launch of Goop’s vitamin C serum (which, like the Goop vibrator is absolutely brilliant and gets great results) but we didn’t talk about that. Instead, she had invited the journalist Maria Shriver to speak to us about how to be inspiring business leaders, and better humans.

On arrival, Gwyneth walked into the dining room where we were about to sit and gave me the warmest welcome, “Mika, you’re here” with a huge bear hug.

We had a conversation about how we were really feeling about life, long Covid, and running our own businesses.

I spent the rest of the evening speaking with the other women in the room, many of whom Gwyneth had helped, and continues to help by supporting their work. And vice versa. The thing that really struck me was these women were from every single walk of life. To say Gwyneth walks her talk is frankly an understatement.

This wasn’t the first time she has gone out of her way to be kind to me. Back in 2022, after a live performance, a woman who accused me of being “the worst thing that had ever happened to feminism”. I reached out to Gwyneth suspecting she of all people would understand, and know how to process it, so I could keep going with this work I do in my late Mother's honour. Her suggestions were kind and invaluable.

In short, Gwyneth is a game-changer who, after coming from Hollywood royalty, really didn't need to put her head above the parapet and lead the charge for women’s health.

She is an Oscar-winner, runs a multi-million pound business that she started around her kitchen table, and she was instrumental in leading the charge when the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke – by lending her support and voice when many others wouldn’t.

Whatever you think of Goop, she did it first. In a world where the entertainment industry recognises the value of lifestyle brands, you often see other talent trying to copy the same business model. But they’re not Gwyneth and they’re not Goop.

I feel honoured to be her friend, and a part of the women’s movement she is creating.

I don’t believe there’s been a time that we needed that more.

mikasimmons.com