August Bonus: Gwyneth, The Biography

This is going to get lost under the very deserved love for Aubrey, but as an addon to Gwyneth - she's also a miserable Zionist who recently starred in an ad for luxury apartments in Tel Aviv. The company who owns the luxury estates she was promoting also owns real estate in an illegal settlement in the Occupied West Bank. She just very clearly falls under the long list of white celebreties who refuse to see Palestinians as people. There's a good Guardian article on it: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/12/gwyneth-paltrow-51-park-israeli-real-estate-ad

Can you talk about her advertising Israeli luxury housing in a future episode?

Not the pain point of the ep but have to point out that Brad Pitt in fact sucks worse than you know. Sure maybe he threatened Harvey Weinstein for Gwyneth but then worked with him TWICE, AFTER his wife Angelina told him that Harvey had harassed her. This guys sucks so hard.

I have a childhood memory of explaining the premise of Shallow Hal to someone as "he's dating a lady who's really fat but he sees her as really thin." An older kid with better media comprehension gently corrected, "he sees her inner beauty," and at the time it made me feel like my own description had been foolish and reductionistic, but in retrospect, nah, child me captured the depth of that movie pretty accurately.

Goop chute is wildddd

I was so thrilled to see you in that Netflix documentary! I had no idea you were in it, so it was a lovely surprise! Just wish they had given you more screen time!

Aubrey, you were the "voice of reason" on that doc. I got so mad about how your were not able to expand on some of the basic ideas, your audience knows. I'm so glad your voice was in there. I'm sorry you are getting hate because of it. Sending appreciation from SF.

“Tea bagging” is a slang term for a sexual act in which a man places his scrotum into the mouth or onto the face of another person, mimicking the dipping motion of a tea bag in hot water. It can also appear outside sexual contexts, often as a prank or in gaming slang to taunt opponents. While “tea bagging” is by far the most recognized term, there are a few variations, such as “dipping” or “dipping the bag,” blunt expressions like “nuts in the mouth,” or more descriptive phrases like “scrotal play” or “ball play.” Some people also use humorous nicknames like “steeping” or “brew time,” though these are less common. Whether the act is considered degrading depends largely on consent and intention—within consensual sexual play it may be seen as playful or erotic, but in non-consensual or mocking contexts it is usually understood as disrespectful or humiliating.

I am so happy I chose not to watch the Astronomer video before this. No better way to experience it than through the Maintenance Phase lens

"Why can't I decide the things that I remember" is peak Michael

The only thing I will disagree with you guys on is Gwyneth being a great actor. I could not disagree more. She was so terrible in the Iron Man movies and somehow managed to have no chemistry with Robert Downey Jr which just seems impossible. I honestly find her kind of bland and dull in her acting.

My poor tiny kitty was snuggling on my chest when I was listening right before bed… She jumped about three feet in the air when I SCREAMED at “Goop Chute.” 🤣😭

Michael gets meaner every day

How you truly know Mike only has sex with men: "There's only five things you can do!' 😝

I just love your pod. I wish there was more content!

Thank y'all so much for keeping me company while I move... It's been pretty rough

EXTREMELY off topic but how has it not come up that Michael Pollan is Michael J Fox’s brother in law? Or did this come up and I blanked it out??

Just to counter the negative feedback Aubrey is getting from the Biggest Loser doc: the color of that sweater makes your skin & eyes glow! You look absolutely stunning! Fuck everyone sending whale emojis. 🫶🏻

Off topic but this piece from Substack ripping apart Malcolm Gladwell is too good not to share here. It just seems to be so in the spirit of the truth-revealing I've come to love here at MP. https://open.substack.com/pub/lyz/p/help-help-rich-men-are-oppressed?r=58rt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Loved the Seed Oils podcast, can't wait to listen to this month's bonus too. and looking forward to a future episode on Weston Price (and his foundation) From the seed oils podcast, Mercola definitely used to have reams of anti seed oil screeds on his website back in the 2004-2006 range, it's where I first heard about seed oils. his blog-iticles were usually couched in inane omega 3 vs omega 6 ratio ranting. And I read that "Great Con-ola" article on the WAPF website back in 2004ish, what a trip down memory lane! regarding the nineties book about 'face structure as a reflection of nutrition' this is actually ALSO a Weston A. Price Foundation thing. Price was a pre-WWI dentist turned amateur-eugenicist, and his 1930s-ish book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, has chapters (and pictures) expounding his theory that face structure (jaw=dental connection) is caused by childhood nutrition and that modern foods (especially canned foods, sugar, flour) caused receding chins and thin faces, and square jawed noble savages (his framing) still eating only traditional foods living away from modernity had superior face structure and superior nutrition. (WAPF is everywhere, you can find them in the 'special thanks' sections of Taubes and Pollans books and numerous others even if Price's work is carefully never cited, and WAPF were the originators of the Ancestral Health Symposium that helped promulgate a lot of the Paleo stuff in the late 2000s) The dogwhistle implicit subtext for the 1930s is that indigenous peoples who have moved to the big city have engaged in culture and race-mixing (with colonizers) and therefore their children are inferior in appearance because of that race-mixing. whilst valorizing the indigenous peoples who stay 'primitive' and 'pure-blooded'. Also this is so insidious, like all of eugenics, because it allows people to look at someone's face and apply racist rationalizations and heritage narratives with absolutely no evidence, sounds a lot like RFK jrs recent regurgitation of garbled 'nutrition as face structure' nonsense when he was spewing about people at airports whose faces he didn't like. Price was obsessed with proving that modernity was to blame for disease--and his foundation has been promoting the modernity/disease hypothesis since the 1970s. why was Price obsessed with this idea? I've always suspected that it's because in the 1890s he performed a root canal on his teenage son and killed him. Price wanted/needed to blame modernity for dental disease, probably to try and assuage his guilt. This is why he and his foundation have been fighting against universal milk pasteurization for the last century, if you say the modern world caused cavities, then you can justify rejecting the modern world -- literally "it's not me, it's them." (also Price and the foundation conveniently ignored that the alleged 'raw milk drinkers' they celebrated living the ideal pastoral rural existence around the world were not actually raw milk drinkers. women on farms using milk from their own cows always scalded the milk before it was fit to drink or use in a recipe--look at any old recipe or cookbook, hell look at how often scalding milk is mentioned in the Little House on the Prairie books. cooking and housework was women's work, mysterious and not worthy of knowing anything about, unless they were blaming them for cooking the "wrong" (modern) foods).

I get sad every time an episode ends. It’s always a good time with Aubrey and Michael 🥰

Oh my gosh idk if anyone else here is a Culture Study subscriber - there must be some crossover right? - but the new episode is a conversation with the biography author! My feed is so blessed!

Just saw Aubrey did an episode with Matt Bernstein!!! Out this Friday I am so ready.

Had to pause the podcast bc I was laughing too hard at the gay man asking the queer woman the difference between balls in your mouth (derogatory) and balls in your mouth (complimentary)

Hopping on the patreon to talk about the latest main feed episode about seed oils panic -- just want to say that in addition to having no scientific basis, the whole panic is racist as fuck, since rapeseed oil has been cultivated and used in India and China for over 2000 years. It always pisses me off so much when white people claim "this is how our ancestors used to do things!!!" with no knowledge or even willingness to think about cultures and histories outside of your tiny Eurocentric bubble. As we say in Chinese: "frogs at the bottom of a well think the sky is only the size of a bucket".

Today’s episode of the Culture Study Podcast is with the author of Gwyneth!

The intro makes me so sad, because when I saw Aubrey in that Netflix documentary I got so excited! I said to my partner "finally, some real fucking journalism!"

I would take an episode, sorta as a continuation of Biggest Loser ep and the doc, about the arc of Jillian Michaels. TBH I just want to listen to y’all dunk on her

Just watched the Netflix documentary about biggest loser - I wish there had have been more Aubrey time in it!! Silly editors, was glad that you appeared in it though

Greatest tagline of all time

Who feels that way about Jack Black?! Who treats him like that?! 😡

Conspirituality mentioned if books could kill, hope they were respectful in their use of Michael’s work

Saw Aubrey’s book in the Tiny Bookshop game!

Sorry about the hate, Aubrey. You are a brilliant, witty, outspoken woman and there are many who hate those. If they couldn't find a culturally sanctioned way to mock your body they'd call you a slut or frigid or a gold-digger or a ballbreaker or shrill or a baby-killer or something something ethics in gaming journalism. Thanks for continuing to bring your voice into the open. It's rough out there.

Oh I’m sat

I literally yelled out, “That’s Aubrey!!!!” when she appeared in the docu, like I was seeing a friend unexpectedly. Which, in a way, I was.

Was pleasantly surprised to see Aubrey in documentary! Definitely was the most reliable narrator imo. Would love to hear more on how she felt used by the journalist.

I don't really GAF about Gwyneth except insofar as she might cause harm with her stupid wellness rubbish. The only thing I remember actually liking her in was a movie about karaoke - Duets? She should do more of that stuff. Make a record or something & we can all choose whether or not to buy it. Just as long as she stops peddling nonsense.

Bonus episode idea: watch the TV show Loot (celebrity foundation) and give us your hot takes! Also yes, please just tax the rich 🤑

Michael does NOT look like Putin

“Almost no celebrity foundation needs to exist” MY QUEEN!!! 👏👏👏

God I have been hoping and praying for a paul saladino episode for so long!! Thank you both! I sort of got caught in a hate-watching spiral of his content in like 2021 lol its just so baffling. the homemade beef tallow sunscreen? the walking around naked in grocery stores? the 5g-is-cooking-your-balls stuff? I couldn't look away.

Cannot skate to save my life but currently dying to join a roller derby team solely so I can use the name Vagina Ryder

I ONLY watched the Netflix doc BECAUSE I knew Aubrey was in it! This episode was an absolute joy to listen to! I laughed SO MUCH at “goop shoot” 🤣

Regarding Kiss Cams- the WORST I have seen recently was a basketball game were the home team was giving away shirts as promotion. The shirts were hanging on your seat as you arrived and everyone was expected to put the shirt on when theybsat down. Of course they were all unisex large or medium. So pregame the announcer and camera crew would scan the crowd for fans that didn't put the shirt on, zoom in and literally say they were shameful for not supporting the team. The camera would stay zoomed in until they put the shirt on. It was horrible to watch folks obviously uncomfortable with putting this ill fitting shirt on while on camera. The arena did offer that you could go to fan services and ask for a different size. But that was not well known. I emailed my anger to the front office post game, thanks to you two. Listening to this podcast has made me less or not afraid to speak up when I see absolute crap like this. Thank you both.

You two make me laugh so hard sometimes that on days I feel yuck, I listen just to hear you both laugh! ~ signed, Fudgy da Whale (it's an east coast thing)

I wanted to watch the documentary because Aubrey, but it was way to fricking upsetting. I couldn’t do it. I did listen to the main feed as always though and 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻 you don’t have real enemies I am NEVER going to stop laughing about that🤣🤣🤣🩷🩷🩷🩷

I laughed way too hard at the lady gaga steak joke LOL. Thanks for brightening my day M&A 😊🫶🏻 Also episode request: competitive bodybuilding!!

Just started listening to this episode, and wanted to say I was SO excited to see Aubrey on the biggest loser documentary! She was so good and was the voice of reason in all the madness and denials.

Nothing substantive to add here, but: I needed a lift this week, and hearing you two on this episode and the main feed episode was a goddamn balm to my soul! Y'all are the best. Thank you for continuing to do your thing out in the world.

Every time you showed up on the doc, it felt like my soul was healing.

My anger at the emojis that Aubrey is receiving! Sending you love and lovely emojis 🩷💖🌳🌸🌺🌻🦄🦋🌿🪺🌞🪻🌈🩷💖

I’m so sorry people were mean to you after the documentary. I was relieved to see you in there and felt like you were a safe harbor in a documentary that didn’t want to take a clear stance or do investigative work.

My senior quote was “fear is your only god”.

I had no idea about the backlash - Christ people suck so hard- and while I know Aubrey and Michael are both uncomfortable with fandom I feel like I have to share how I full on FANGIRL shrieked when Aubrey popped up on that netflix doc. Like I had to WhatsApp my sister. I went in blind to the doc as I'm off social media so it was such a cool surprise to see a favourite.

When I worked as a PA in LA, I had to pick up lunch from Goop Kitchen. There was no storefront. You ordered online and went to pick it up. Fine, no problem. Except the pick up spot was in a coffee shop that had ZERO affiliation with Goop. Goop just rents a shelf in the shop for customers to come and pick up. So if there’s anything wrong with the order, it’s the baristas who, again, do not work for Goop, who get yelled at (since no one wants to yell at an app.) her being broke explains a lot. Also the food is TERRRRIBLE!

The doc was a bummer but Aubrey didn't disappoint. "Nothing you do in your entire life will be celebrated as much as getting thin."

I just finished the docuseries. Aubrey is a shining gem of thoughtful earnestness among a sea of unreliable narrators. The self-serving smugness of all those reality TV personalities was unbearable. I'm not surprised to find out you weren't aware of the actual nature of the project and I'm sorry you got wrapped up in this train wreck.

Paltrow is such a LIBRA

As I was watching the Biggest Loser doc and beautiful Aubrey, I thought “oh she is not gunna like how they’ve used her in this” - I love and admire you both and Aubrey, that doc was lucky to have you.

aubrey i’m so curious to hear more about your perspective on the Biggest Loser doc. I just did a first watch and am still digesting - but i’m feeling very mixed about the doc. In many ways it feels complicit with anti fat bias and discussions. I would be interested for more peoples takes!

Love you two. I'm so sorry Aubrey is getting abuse. I was close to an actor in the early 2000's who had recently made a film with Gwyneth and she HATED her. Ha Ha. My friend had a bigger body than Gwyneth, at the time. Not sure if that had any bearing on the reason she disliked her? But my memory was that she had been excluding and bullying to my friend.

How do you wake up Lady Gaga when she’s sleeping? Pa pa pa poke her face. Heard that from an 8 year old in 2010.

This was so much fun, thank you. 💛

Gwyneth, is this whale emoji a beluga? I want to look classy when I bully strangers on the internet.

I think it's called an herbal detox and not tea bagging when Gwynneth does it.

Wait which journo did Aubrey dirty?

Hi Aubrey, I'll fucking fight em let me at em. I got a lot of depression and pent up rage and I'm all outta depression

As always I’m here giggling my way through work thanks to you two wonderful people.

Aubrey! We ride at dawn

Aubrey, I was SO excited to see you in the Netflix doc! Your presence was such a lovely surprise (I didn’t know you were going to be in it) and honestly is why I kept watching. Your voice is important. Thank you 🧡

🦌🦌 These emojis mean you are both dears (and hopefully homophone fans)

I also just learned that Brad Pitt along with Joaquin Phoenix is producing a documentary about the murder of Hind Rajab, making them two of the very few celebrities willing to take a stand on the genocide. GODDAMN THAT BROKEN CLOCK AGAIN LOL

Okay, "Shallow Gal" is prime punnery. Thank you.

I hate that I have to be in meetings most of today and can’t listen for another 5 hours!

Just here to echo everyone in saying that Aubrey is queen for dealing with constant horrible people and still giving us amazing episodes like this. Brightening my day and making me laugh so much. I hope we can make your day better like you do to all of ours! 💖💖

I met Gwyneth at a theater festival (she's just one year older than me--exactly) before she was famous. She was really quiet and shy, maybe because her mom was a big deal there. Her mom was a holy TERROR and SO MEAN. Her dad was lovely. Once Blythe screamed at me in front of a bunch of people and her dad, Bruce, came up to me later and was just so nice and kind. Won't lie, she (GP) was good in the play she was in, but I was SHOCKED that she became a "big deal" later.

Aubrey, as a Maintenance Phase listener, I was suprise and delighted to see you in the documentary. Everything you had to say was intelligent and passionate. Thank you for doing it!

"I said it's INTERESTING that our bodies are so different! So I basically just called you interesting, Fatty. You're welcome 😤🙄"

Who has been abusing Aubrey after the biggest loser doc? Let me at ‘em! I thought you looked beautiful, I really liked the colour of your jumper

Loved this episode and all the taglines! In my head, though, this ep is called “Gwyneth the Menace.”

Aubrey, you were so good in the documentary.

Aubrey getting sent whale emoji: Cons--people are horrible Pros--i probably wouldn't have gotten "cetacean" on today's nyt spelling bee without it

Just paused the episode a few minutes in to come post here. I’m so sorry people have been treating you like that, Aubrey. I’m sure that, as a fat activist and a person with a large audience, you’re accustomed to that behavior to some degree—but that doesn’t make it any less horrible or any less bullshit. You don’t deserve to be treated that way. I’m so sorry you’ve had to experience it and all the other abhorrent ways people have treated you. I’m just another stranger on the internet, but for my part: I think you’re fucking incredible, and hearing you on Maintenance Phase always brightens my day. I listen to a LOT of podcasts and this one became my favorite basically immediately (and I say that as a person who is notoriously awful at picking favorites). You two are an absolute delight and I am so incredibly grateful you continue to make this show. 💗💗 💗

I love you Mike and Aubrey but I have learned through experience not to trust you when you say an episode will be a lighthearted hang. However this one actually was! Not even for the bright light of Audrey's presence will I subject myself to the Biggest Loser doc. (My general policy is that I'm subjected to enough fatphobia in my day to day life, why would I voluntarily engage with more?)

As many others here have said, Aubrey is the best (possibly the only good) thing in that documentary and I kept longing to hear more from her. It was so clear that she was setting up really good, thoughtful analysis as she always does, and then it just didn't get aired. I'm so sorry people are so horrible Aubrey. You are one of the people whose perspective I'm constantly seeking because you're so good at this. Thank you for doing this work.

The only celebrity what did they eat gossip that I care about is Howard Hughes’s absolutely unhinged dinner order that he made every restaurant make for him. Rare steak, mashed potatoes, and plain peas that he would use a specialty made brush so that he could comb out the big ones and only eat the small ones

I tried to watch that awful doc just for you Aubrey but it was too awful. Sorry people are being assholes. You’re a delight.

As a New Englander, I should be used to people talking about sucking Ben Affleck's balls, but I was not prepared to hear about it here!

When I heard Aubrey's voice on the documentary followed by the confirmation that it was indeed her, my day became 1000% better! The haters can suck a (jade) egg

I just wanna say Aubrey that when you came onscreen my husband was like, wait, that voice!! It's your podcast lady, she's so fucking funny!! He only listens tangentially when I throw it on while I'm doing stuff and yet still obviously recognized excellence.

How do you wake Lady Gaga up in the morning? Poke her face.

It’s my first day back at school after a very lazy summer. I woke up feeling really sad. Until I saw this. Thank you for turning my day around!

YIPPEE

Damn I was hoping for, "Welcome to Maintenance Phase, the podcast where everyone gets a jade vagina egg."

I was multitasking while the Netflix documentary was running, and then I heard a familiar voice. “Is that Aubrey? That sounds like Aubrey!” So I ran it back to see the identifying Chiron. I’m so glad I can put a face to one of my favorite voices. You’re lovely, Aubrey!

I have to say, I’m not even making this up, I’m on the side of tiktok where I was getting the netflix doc clips and the comments I saw were “who is this queen?!” and “I don’t know who this person is but she’s the bright spot in this series”. It made me so happy.

Literally giggled when I saw this pop-up in my feed

#reclaimthewhaleemoji

I’m compiling a list of MP quotes that probably wont ever become cross stitches (but maybe!) and Goop Chute has rocketed to the top of the list.

Have not listened yet but when this popped up I CHEERED!!!

I was sorry to hear about the Netflix nonsense, but sadly not surprised. Can I tell you that when I saw you come on the screen that I yelled, “Is that Aubrey??” really loudly in my wife’s ear (accidentally- she was sitting pretty close to me on the couch). I was so happy to see you. :-) Great episode as always. Thank you and Michael for all the work you do.

Yaaaaay another one! weekend fix aheady! (question: will you ever do a Bariatric surgery episode?)

I’m only like five minutes in and I had to stop and provide a fact check: Gwyneth was NOT the lead anecdote in the NYT’s Weinstein investigation. Ashley Judd was. Gwyneth agreed to appear in a follow-up article once she saw how Judd’s was received. This is all in the She Said book, although to be fair it was not made clear in Odell’s book. Yes, it was brave for Gwyneth to speak out, but let’s give credit to Judd for leading the way. Now I’ll go back to my regularly scheduled listening.

Wait does anyone know what they’re referencing at the beginning with one of them being mischaracterized by a journalist?

Thank you, Aubrey and Michael for reminding me of my high school years. I forgot the names of people that made fun of my appearance, but will always remember the older girl who called me a poser after I came to school wearing a Fugazi T-shirt. 🤣

Shallow Gal 😆

DONT LISTEN while your husband is asleep. You will lol and wake him up! He’s TIRED!!!

What a week to be a MP fan 👏👏

YESSS insomnia actually has benefits