Gwyneth Paltrow smiles on arrival into Sydney Airport ahead of appearance at Jackie O’s new ‘Besties’ brand launch.
BY: David J Lawrence
There’s something about Gwynie that gives me the ick. Can’t quite put my finger on it but it might be something to do with these ‘relatable’ genetically blessed Academy Award winning actress / brand founder CEO types flogging products to us peasants under the guise of wellness and better living while making overtones about how hard working they are. Bitch pleaz! With the current cost of living no one needs to spend USD 2500 on a Lobymeyr Inner Light Vase or USD 250.00 on a coupla wooden bowls with wait or it….lids. These items and more all carefully curated by Gwynie herself. Suddenly I remember one of the Goop founders more relatable ‘truths’ (total bullshit I went looking for it). In 2009 she was quoted by Elle UK as saying “I am who I am. I can’t pretend to be somebody who makes $25,000 a year.” I can totally relate and so it seems can our Jackie and her bestie Gemma O’Neill.
In what seems to be a meeting of the minds or at least a brand alignment, Besties has forked out an estimated USD 200K plus appearance fee (a tad over AUD 300K) to bring the Goop founder to our humble shores. It is unknown whether the Besties got the mates rate given Jackies years of ‘friendship’ with Gwynie (they once had dinner together in New York after Jackie won an auction for an intimate dinner with the Oscar winner) or they had to pay the full rate and Im guessing she didn’t fly economy either so add that onto the bill too. Jackie said of the dinner encounter “She spoke so candidly about her family and everything. There was no wall up that is why I wanted her as our first guest. She can’t help but be honest”. Yeah yeah, what is it about celebrities talking up celebrities that makes the skin crawl. Oh they’re just like us!
One wonders why of all the great Australian women leaders of business you would choose Gwynie to be your first guest speaker. Well this is what Jackie and Gemma had to say. “We’ve always been in awe of Gwyneth, her business ethic, willingness to take the road less travelled and her appetite to take risks. She is so gracious, funny, smart and so much fun. We can’t begin to tell you how excited we are that Gwyneth Paltrow is coming to Australia for besties to share all her stories.” Goop Goop Goop.
Now this was not meant to be a hatchet job on our Jackie, we love Jackie, she’s so relatable (couldn’t resist, no but she is). No no lets not poo poo Jackies promising new business venture or her mate Gwynie. You may after all be a big fan of Gwynie too so let’s just agree to disagree or if you prefer we can ‘consciously uncouple’.
Tickets for the event start at $100 for peasants and $2500 for a VIP package which includes a photo with Gwynie and entry to the cocktail party.
Here’s a few pics of Gwynie when she landed. Credit: matrixpictures.com.au
