“I don’t think anyone believes that I actually run my business. I think people think I’m the figurehead,” Gwyneth Paltrow said of her lifestyle company Goop in one interview with New York Times in October 2023. In March of that year, Goop – founded by the Oscar-winning actress, who is also the CEO – celebrated its 15th anniversary in good form. By Paltrow’s own estimates, it employed 170 people and covered a wide range of brands, products and services. Still, Paltrow hinted that the company may not be part of her future much longer. “I don’t think I can have this job forever,” she admitted.

Goop began as a health newsletter written by Paltrow from her kitchen and has since grown into a multi-million dollar empire. Although it began as a media company, Goop became known for its often controversial products and practices. From scented candles called This smells like my vagina (priced around $75) to vaginal eggs designed to “balance hormones,” the brand’s offerings often attract attention. Goop is also known for its unconventional Christmas gift guides. For example, in 2023, some of the most eccentric items included a $15,000 24-karat gold dildo and a shower head, which “doubles as a clitoral stimulator,” priced at $119. In 2024, the eccentricity continued with a vibrator that plays your favorite tunes for $159 and a baseball cap with built-in red light therapy, intended to stimulate hair growth and rejuvenate the scalp, priced at $449.

However, some specialized media outlets have begun to predict the end of Goop’s golden age. While the company continues to make headlines for its provocative products, it has recently been embroiled in legal issues. In March, it was revealed that Goop had been sued by sexual wellness brand Good Clean Love for trademark infringement. The lawsuit stemmed from Goop’s launch of a line of sexual well-being products called good.clean.goopwhich Good Clean Love argued could confuse consumers due to the similarity of their names.

Six months into the trial, which is still ongoing, Goop suffered another setback in September. “Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop cuts 18% of workforce to focus on beauty products,” reported several US outlets, including Women’s clothing dailya leading fashion magazine. “Goop has been trying for a while to be known as a health company, selling all kinds of products and advice that some might think are quirky or non-mainstream. It was silly. Fads don’t last,” the managing director of New York public relations agency HeraldPR said in a interview with New York Post.

For experts, one of the company’s challenges has been its excessive diversification. To date, Goop has included a newsletter, a podcast, the Goop Beauty product line, the G. Label by Goop clothing line, the Goop Wellness sexual wellness line, two Netflix shows, five stores and Goop Kitchen, a Southern California takeout chain. It even launched a health conference series and a luxury cruise, Goop at Sea, promising “a mix of discovery and restoration” when it goes to market in 2022.

But after the layoffs, which affected about 40 of the 216 employees at the time, Goop decided to prioritize three core areas: “beauty, fashion and food” and abandon initiatives that proved less profitable, such as wellness (especially sexual well-being) and trips are reported Business Insider. One of those laid off was chief marketing officer Lauren Johnston, a former Google executive who had only been with the company for eight months.

“There will always be a generation of women for whom Gwyneth feels like a crazy old friend or a goddess guru whose every piece of advice they follow,” Bethan Holt, The Telegraph’s fashion manager, told Page six. “But it’s not necessarily a big business success anymore, even though Goop has long been a byword for the modern celebrity lifestyle empire.” Holt also noted that Paltrow pioneered the growing trend of celebrities starting lifestyle companies, a concept that has since been adopted by peers such as Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jessica Alba.

In 2018, a decade after its launch, Goop was valued at $250 million, New York Times reported. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Paltrow has largely scaled back her film and TV appearances in recent years, beyond her role on the finale Avengers film 2019 and expresses an episode of American horror stories 2023. “It would be very difficult for me to do any acting right now, just because of my job, but I guess Robert Downey Jr. could probably always bring me back,” she joked in a interview with E.T last year and referred to her Avengers co-star, who plays Iron Man.

However, Goop’s golden years seem to be fading. After an 18% reduction in staff in September, the company has now implemented another round of layoffs, affecting 6% of the workforce across multiple divisions, including beauty, programming, technology and creative. Goop spokespeople recently confirmed the cuts to Business Insiderand explained that the goal was to “optimize operational efficiency and revenue growth in our key beauty and fashion verticals.”

“A Goop spokesperson declined to provide specific revenue figures, but said revenue grew year over year from 2023 and was on track to grow again in 2024. Goop Beauty’s revenue is up 21% over last year, and G. Label revenue is up by 45% , she said The spokesman declined to say whether the company is profitable,” the media reported.

The actress and businesswoman, who has an estimated net worth of $200 million, already has a plan for when she eventually steps away from the company. “I mean, I told my mom (actress Blythe Danner) that I’m going to do a play when I sell the company,” she revealed in her interview with New York Times. She also mentioned that it would be “nice” to return her investors’ money when it comes time to wind down the project: “That’s important to me.”

Otherwise, she says she wants to fully live what she calls her “crone” years. Cooking, working in her garden and being a grandmother, she lists. In short, quietly enjoy the financial fruits of her labor and embrace retirement, whenever she makes that decision.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition