When Meghan Markle launched her lifestyle brand, As Ever, a lot of people wondered if Gwyneth Paltrow would regard her as serious competition for her own wellness empire, Goop — but it turns out the two ambitious women have actually bonded over their common interests.
Speaking at the Mindvalley Manifesting Summit in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 17, Paltrow, 52, revealed that she and the Duchess of Sussex have even been chatting over text. “We have a text friendship so far,” she told People. She added that she’s “been traveling quite a bit,” making an IRL meetup tricky despite she and husband Brad Falchuk living in the same Montecito, California neighborhood as Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry.
Paltrow said that she doesn’t like the idea of being compared to Meghan. “I don‘t like that, when people try to pit women against each other,” she said. In fact, Paltrow even revealed that she would be open to appearing on the second season of Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, in which the duchess makes recipes and other creations while chatting about life with a few high-profile friends. “Sure!” said Paltrow. “Why not? You never know. I don’t bake that well, but I can always try.”
It’s not the first time both Paltrow and Meghan have been at pains to emphasize that they’re on good terms. “I was raised to see other women as friends, not foes,” the actress told Vanity Fair in March, when the comparisons between Goop and As ever were first drawn. “I think there’s always more than enough to go around. Everybody deserves an attempt at everything that they want to try. Another woman is never your competition.”
Also in March, the two women responded to rumors of their beef in very amusing style on Instagram stories, when Paltrow shared a question she’d been asked in a follower Q&A, which read, “Are you comprehending the Meghan Markle beef that social media says you two have?” Paltrow said “I genuinely do not understand this at all, whatsoever” before moving her camera to show that she and Meghan were sitting at the same kitchen table.
Really, it makes total sense that these two would be friends — they have a ton in common, from acting to wellness to famous husbands. And Meghan’s interest in all things wellbeing goes way back: she launched her food and lifestyle blog The Tig in 2014, long before she met Prince Harry in 2017. Paltrow’s Goop, meanwhile, has been going since 2008, initially as a weekly newsletter, but now an empire worth an estimated $250 million.
The truth is, a potential collab between the two would be a huge deal for both of them — plus, they have enough crucial differences to both stand out. After all, we can’t ever see Meghan launching a vagina candle …
