Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has launched a podcast aimed at helping men push back against so-called “toxic masculinity,” as part of a series of new products for her controversial lifestyle brand Goop.
The new podcast, named “Goopfellas,” will reportedly focus on helping men achieve their personal health transformation, whether they be physical, mental, or both.
“It feels like we’re at a point in the culture where men are rejecting that sort of toxic masculinity,” Goop’s chief content officer, Elise Loehnen, told Fast Company last week. “We wanted to do something that was more about the emotional health of men, the importance of vulnerability, and this acknowledgment of how hard these things can be.”
The first episode of the podcast, hosted by celebrity chef Seamus Mullen and functional medicine practitioner Will Cole, debuted last Wednesday. Entitled “The Warrior Construct,” it involved the pair interviewing former NFL linebacker Keith Mitchell, who became a devout practitioner of yoga and meditation following a devastating football injury that left him partially paralyzed in 2003.
The launch of “Goopfellas” comes just over a year after Paltrow launched her own show, “The Goop Podcast,” that sees the 46-year-old interviewing figures on subjects of health and wellbeing. Previous guests have included media mogul Oprah Winfrey and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
However, Paltrow’s brand has not always been the subject of positive publicity. Last December, the company agreed to pay out $145,000 in civil penalties over “unsubstantiated claims” made about some of their products sold online, such as pricey vaginal eggs and a floral oil blend that they claimed could prevent depression.
In 2017, the brand also came under fire for promoting weight loss advice some nutritionists deemed as “extremely damaging” to readers’ long-term health. The diet involved cutting down on gluten and carbohydrates, as well as working out every day with the aim of losing 14-pounds within four weeks.
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