Paltrow believes that ibogaine—a psychoactive substance made from a West African plant—has the potential to help the culture “evolve,”
No one really knows what’s next in the wellness world — but according to Gwyneth Paltrow, it may be psychedelic drugs.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, the actress and founder of the wellness brand goop was asked about what may be the next big thing.
“I think how psychedelics affect health and mental health and addiction will come more into the mainstream,” she told the Times. “I mean there’s undeniably some link between being in that state and being connected to some other universal cosmic something.”
Paltrow tells the Times that she has never tried any type of psychoactive drug herself, though she said she believes that ibogaine — a psychoactive substance made from a West African plant — has the potential to help the culture “evolve,” according to Page Six.
Paltrow told the Times that she and goop have been ahead of the curve with other trends.
“When we talk about something that is incendiary, I always see in six months other people starting to write about it, and 18 months later, businesses popping up around it,” she said. “It’s always confirmation to me that we’re on the right track. I mean, when I did my gluten-free cookbook in 2015, the press was super negative and there were personal attacks about what I was feeding my children and what kind of mother I am. Now the gluten-free market is huge.”
Paltrow began goop about 10 years ago as a newsletter of sorts, and in the time since it has grown into a “modern lifestyle brand,” according to the website.
“We believe that the little things count, that good food is the foundation of love and wellness, that the mind/body/spirit is inextricably linked, and we have more control over how we express our health than we currently understand,” goop’s website reads.
In the past, according to Page Six, goop has faced some backlash for its “misleading” claims and it even paid $145,000 in civil penalties in September of last year in a case involving a vaginal egg.
Paltrow acknowledges the company’s mistakes, but says it never has claimed to be “prescriptive” with its recommendations.
“When we were young and not even monetizing the business and just sort of creating content, we didn’t necessarily understand anything about claims. We just thought, ‘Oh, this is a cool alternative modality, let’s write about it,’” she told the Times. “Of course we’ve made some mistakes along the way, but we’ve never been prescriptive. We’ve never said, ‘You should try this,’ or ‘This works.’ We’re just saying, ‘Wow, this is interesting, let’s have a Q and A with this person who practices this.’ And then that somehow gets translated into, ‘Gwyneth says you should do this.’”
