Thelife- Hilarious and baffling clips of Gwenyth Paltrow's ski accident trial are making the rounds on TikTok.
- Some lauded the actress-turned-wellness-guru for her un-relatability, while others found it off-putting.
Choice clips of Gwenyth Paltrow's ski trial are going viral on TikTok as some users criticized the movie-star-turned-wellness-industry-titan for appearing "out of touch" while others applauded her for it.
Paltrow is currently in the second week of a civil court case waged by a 76-year-old retired optometrist, Terry Sanderson, who claims the actress hit him while skiing in Park City, Utah, in 2016. Paltrow countersued, alleging instead that it was Sanderson who hit her.
In one infamous clip, attorney Kristin VanOrma, who's representing Sanderson, questioned Paltrow about how the skiing accident prevented her from enjoying a very expensive vacation. "Well, I lost half a day of skiing," Paltrow responded. In lieu of hitting the slopes, Paltrow apparently opted for a massage instead.
The Washington Post's Dave Jorgenson gave that moment a melancholic edit, which has been viewed 2.7 million times since he posted it on Tuesday. "Hang in there, Gwenyth," he wrote in the caption.
@davejorgenson Hang in there, Gwyneth.
♬ Space Song - Beach House
"Not half a day of skiing?! God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers," one user commented.
"Reminds me of the article where it said during the pandemic she broke down and ate bread," wrote another, seemingly in reference to a 2021 interview with the podcast SmartLess in which she said she was "drinking seven nights a week and making pasta and eating bread" during the height of COVID, characterizing the period as going "totally off the rails."
User @Timmonslisa then set aesthetically pleasing lifestyle videos from Paltrow's accounts and paired them with a satirical commercial voiceover. "I don't know that this could be a whiter crime," the speaker says as a video of Paltrow applying her $98 GoopGenes face oil plays. "But you know I got to get really moisturized for my trial, guys, because it's me going mano-a-mano with the top of the privilege food chain." The satire has been viewed 231,500 times.
@timmonslisa Gwyneth’s Slippery Slope #gwynethpaltrow #gwynethpaltrowedit #goop #ski #skincare #latestagecapitalism #gwyneth #lawsuit #lawsuits #trial ♬ original sound - timmonslisa
"I'm sorry but no one cares about someone worth $200 million losing $9,000," wrote user @theshamingofjay on footage of Paltrow discussing the $9,000 she paid for skiing lessons. Their video has racked up 3.5 million views.
A majority of its top comments, however, defended Paltrow, noting that ski lessons are notoriously expensive. And the actress has never concealed her wealth, either.
"'I am who I am. I can't pretend to be someone who makes $25k a year'," a user quoted the Oscar-winning actress from a 2009 Elle Magazine interview.
While many commenters find Paltrow's un-relatability to be a glaring and irritating, others have lauded Paltrow as a sort of de-facto dark knight of lifestyle branding and capitalism — an incontrovertible "bourgeoisie icon," if you will.
Some commenters have warned critics that their open distaste may not "age well," saying: "I think we might be going into a Gwenissance."
As Vox's Alex Abad-Santos pointed out in an analysis of the trial thus far, Paltrow's sheer unabashed embrace of her opulence and stature has a refreshing, counterintuitive appeal.
She doesn't appear interested in being much like the average person. As more and more online conversations engage in the merits and pitfalls of Hollywood's "nepo-babies," and stars like Kylie Jenner are criticized for trying to appear as a commoner, Paltrow's unabashed wealth and privilege seem authentic in contrast. (Though Paltrow, a nepo-baby herself, has gotten into hot water for her comments on nepotism in the past).
—Bess Kalb (@bessbell) March 24, 2023
Perhaps Paltrow is less interested in being a sympathetic defendant who viewers can relate to and more interested in being the seemingly unapologetically unrelatable Paltrow the public has already come to know.
She has, in fact, shown up to court with a $250 notebook.