Marianne Williamson Hasn’t Even Locked the Goop Vote
How Gwyneth Paltrow and the 2020 presidential race’s most (in)famous mystic are monetizing our anxiety
By the time Marianne Williamson took the stage at the In Goop Health summit in November, I’d had my face depuffed twice. On the floor of Goop Hall, a sage- and eucalyptus-scented showroom with giant windows framing the San Francisco skyline, a sales associate cheerily sold me a $45 jade face roller. In a skincare masterclass later that day, Gwyneth Paltrow’s personal facialist pointed at me — the only man in an audience of 60 — and said I was holding too much tension in my jaw. “I’m a Leo, I’m Greek, and I will kick your butt,” she said. My classmates burst out laughing as a Goop attendant handed me a warm face towel.
Which is all to say that, when Williamson finally sat down for her fireside chat with Paltrow, my face felt puffier than ever.
Heading into the weekend, Williamson seemed a natural fit to speak before the Goop summit. The author of 13 self-help books, Williamson is running (and yes, she is still running for the 2020 Democratic nomination) on a platform of love. Not universal healthcare. Not gun control. Not immigration reform. Her entire platform consists of a feeling: one that philosophers and pop singers have struggled…
