A Defense of Gwyneth's $21,000-a-Month Beauty Habit (Kind of)
By Kate Sullivan, Allure
It seems that anything the average gal can get up to, Goop guru Gwyneth Paltrow can take to the extreme. You like juice? How about consuming nothing but juice for approximately a week? You like pizza? Check out the backyard pizza ovens in each of her multiple backyards. You like bejeweled sweatshirts? Her homeboy Matthew Williamson designed this one exclusively for Goop for $845. The latest case in point: this report that she spends more than $21,000 a month on her beauty regimen—from New Age Reiki sessions to Thermage treatments. But when you really think about it, it’s not surprising—and it’s hardly criminal either.
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The average American woman spends $15,000 on beauty products in her lifetime. So comparatively, and in a nation where retail and food-service workers are fighting for a living wage, GP’s monthly “budget” hits a sharp note. It’s so nutso high, it could make even one of those clueless ladies who somehow don’t identify as feminists ponder the reasons that Gwynnie, and really all women, might devote so much money (and moreover time—shopping and treatments take a lot of hours!) in the pursuit of beauty.
But honestly, I don’t especially care what celebrities spend their money on, so long as they’re paying taxes and donating to charity on the regs. People seem to want a fresh reason to hate Gwyneth, and since the diet thing and “conscious uncoupling” are played out, it’s that she spends too much money on her beauty routine. But by attacking it, folks are attacking more than just one actress. They’re also casting judgment on any woman who throws a lot of cash at personal care or really anything at all that’s just for her. A woman’s self-indulgence is often seen as too indulgent, as sick vanity. (Especially if she’s a mother.) But who made that money? She did. And if a woman didn’t spend any time or money or her appearance, you can be damn sure people would have something to say about that, too.
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I’m not saying GP does no wrong and we should all immediately go on her January cleanse (regular colonics? Nah!), but male celebs are rarely shamed for their spending, and I bet they’ve got some pretty dumb stuff. (You just know that Leonardo DiCaprio owns a pied-à-terre exclusively for bikini models having Nerf wars or some shiz.) Bottom line: Our icky feeling about Gwyneth’s spending habits is gendered. While it’s a positive thing to take the time to analyze the ins and outs of our beauty consumerism (“Am I choosing this hair removal or is the patriarchy choosing it for me?”), let’s also give a Women’s Studies moment to this autopilot judgment that what women spend money on is silly. In college, a guy friend balked at what I dropped at the makeup counter, when only days before he’d tapped out his meal-plan card on late-night junk food. I argued that I had sensitive, acne-prone skin and I needed what I needed for it—but why was I so embarrassed and defensive? I’d made the money I’d spent. At 9 A.M. every Saturday and Sunday for four years, I was behind the desk at the college library while my buddy was sleeping off a hangover. And in addition to ponying up for concealer, I used my paychecks for books, housing, a meal plan…but here I go, getting up in arms, trying to justify my right to spend what I earned. I shouldn’t have to, you shouldn’t either, and like it or not, neither should Gwyneth.
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photo: Getty Images
