Gwyneth Paltrow is at it again, guys.
We're pretty used to her saying strange things and generally Goop-ing all over the place.
Her dancing along the razor's edge of "health" advice for years has been bad enough, especially when you consider some of her advice has actually been pretty harmful, but most of us just chock it up to Gwyneth being Gwyneth. This latest development is a bit much though, even for her—and that's saying a lot.
Gwyneth has been doing media tours promoting Goop, her health and lifestyle brand, lately. In one of those interviews the subject of yoga came up.
The practice has been popular for literally thousands of years. It saw a huge surge in popularity in the Western world with the hippie generation.
Marilyn Monroe was a devoted yoga practitioner who talked about it through the late 50's and early 60's. The Beatles did yoga.
Bikram Choudhury brought his particular brand of Yoga to the states in the 70's. According to Gwyneth Paltrow, though, we all have HER to thank for yoga.
She told the Wall Street Journal a story about a time a receptionist at a yoga studio asked Gwyneth if she had done yoga before. She could have just responded that yes, she had experience, but that wouldn't be very Gwyneth-y.
Instead, she decided to "educate" the poor woman at the studio. Gwyneth looked the poor woman in the face and told her that she owed her very job to the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow has done yoga.
Yeah, the fact that it happened is weird enough but why brag to the Wall Street Journal that you just tried to take credit for yoga?
Um...
Here's Paltrow's quote:
"I remember when I started doing yoga and people were like, 'What is yoga? She's a witch. She's a freak.' Forgive me if this comes out wrong. but I went to do a yoga class in L.A. recently and the 22-year-old girl behind the counter was like, 'Have you ever done yoga before?' And literally I turned to my friend, and I was like, 'You have this job because I've done yoga before.'"
So yeah, that's a little awkward.
We aren't the only ones who think so. The quote hit stands and Twitter let out this collective groan of frustration the likes of which we haven't seen since the last time Gwyneth said some Gwyneth-esque stuff.
My brown self did not know that Gwyneth Paltrow invented yoga. This is Peak White Nonsense. https://t.co/WSeaVVTPwr— Tarin Gill (@Tarin Gill) 1543956350.0
@enews Surely it has nothing to do with originating 5000 years ago as a form spiritual and cultural connection. Che… https://t.co/r1OhW5mneN— Dan Kan (@Dan Kan) 1544020857.0
@TarinGill “I’ve been doing yoga since before the Sutras of Patanjali were written but I bet you only heard of it w… https://t.co/dFEYUQgOAv— Meg (@Meg) 1543977856.0
Dear Gwyneth Paltrow, You have a "job" because certain brown people invented yoga thousands of years ago. Very Trul… https://t.co/RtXwQz4MtE— ak$cientist (@ak$cientist) 1543975044.0
Didn't know Gwyneth paltrow was in India hundreds of years ago ?? https://t.co/MgVECxemp4— aysha (@aysha) 1544034718.0
@moorehn This is Quincy Jones doing yoga in Los Angeles in the late 70’s early 80’s Gwyneth Paltrow was the instruc… https://t.co/ZXsKCe4ipI— Tabala Jali Thomas (@Tabala Jali Thomas) 1544016857.0
yoga has been around for thousands of years and gwyneth paltrow thinks she invented it 🤦🏼‍♀️ https://t.co/XC6cST6aNt— blank (@blank) 1543972343.0
Is anyone shocked Gwyneth Paltrow said she invented yoga after she agreed to be in this ad campaign? https://t.co/i2GXRfmem6— Lindsay Mann (@Lindsay Mann) 1543987374.0
Gwyneth Paltrow: I made yoga popular! Bikram Choudhury: https://t.co/oi8G6woIWm— Sweet Toof Jones (@Sweet Toof Jones) 1543983105.0
Gwyneth Paltrow is so shamelessly out of touch that she is endlessly fascinating to me. I want to put her in a muse… https://t.co/Lha48RXRGk— Ana (@Ana) 1543971155.0
Someone tell Gwyneth Paltrow to eat more than 6 fries in one sitting and see if it knocks her chakras out of alignm… https://t.co/15RNhRQbpK— beats (@beats) 1544009436.0
So... yeah.
We don't really know what to do with that one. The interview was full of Gwynethisms, but that one really seems to be rubbing people the wrong way.
We will keep you updated if she decided to expand on exactly HOW the yoga studio woman owes her job to Paltrow, or exactly how she influenced the world into doing yoga. It may be for the best if she just lets it go, though.
H/T: Twitter