Have Martha Stewart and Gwyneth Paltrow Finally Squashed Their Beef?
Longstanding celebrity feuds are the framework of Hollywood. One of the more recent public “battles” is more lowkey than some, but just as exhilarating to follow. Since 2013, Martha Stewart has been throwing shade at Gwyneth Paltrow for overstepping into Stewart’s hard-earned lifestyle industry. Have they settled their squabbles yet?
What started the feud between Martha Stewart and Gwyneth Paltrow?
Back in 2013, Martha Stewart, owner of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, gave Bloomberg TV a subtle diss about Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand, Goop, which had been around for five years at that point.
“I haven’t eaten at Gwyneth’s house. I’ve never seen how she lives. But if she is authentic, all the better,” she said. “I mean, and I certainly hope she is… She wants to be a lifestyle arbiter. Fine. Good. I think I started this whole category of lifestyle.”
In another incident, TMZ caught Stewart on the street and asked her if she or Paltrow is a better life coach.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, you have to live to be a coach!” she said.
It didn’t end there. If anything, Stewart was just getting started with her views on Paltrow’s place in the lifestyle industry.
“If [Paltrow] were confident in her acting, she wouldn’t be trying to be Martha Stewart,” she said a year later adding Paltrow “just needs to be quiet.”
It didn’t seem to bother Paltrow who told E! News she was “psyched” that Stewart sees Goop as “competition.”
That aside, their public jabs crossed over into their respective brands with Stewart’s “Conscious Coupling” pie and Paltrow’s “Jailbird Cake.” Things seemed to have settled down for a while on both sides — until Paltrow’s company introduced a new product that had the internet screaming.
Paltrow’s latest product stirred up more controversy
Goop is valued at $250 million while Stewart’s business ventures are at a whopping $2 billion. However, it’s Paltrow’s company that’s made recent headlines with her controversial products.
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Stewart answered a caller who asked for her thoughts of Goop’s new candle, “This Smells Like My Vagina.”
“I’m sure it sold out,” Stewart said. “She does that kind of irritatingly—she’s trying to zhuzh up the public to listen to her and that’s great. Let her do her thing. I wouldn’t buy that candle.”
As for the massive response that led to the candle being sold-out, Stewart added, “I think it’s not America. I think it’s a lot of guys who are horny.”
Are Stewart and Paltrow friends now?
You’d think after all of this time, things would’ve died down by now. In Aug. 2019, Alex Rodriquez interviewed Stewart for his podcast, The Corp, in which he asked Stewart to compare her empire with Paltrow’s.
“I don’t follow Goop,” Stewart said. “Sometimes I look at products that she’s selling … I wish every young entrepreneur well and I hope that there are many, many, many different kinds of entrepreneurs … if they’re movie stars or hardworking women like I am, who are not movie stars. If they have a good idea, I want them to be able to succeed. So, good luck, Gwyneth.”
Still, Paltrow continues enjoying all that shade. During the National Retail Federation, Paltrow addressed the “feud” saying, “If you are in the news and it’s driving traffic to your site, it’s not a bad thing.”
It doesn’t look like the two are friends — and they may not be in the near future — but the banter is likely driving each guru’s sales numbers. That’s showbiz.
