When Goop founder and ultimate "Goddess of Aspiration" Gwyneth Paltrow needs a moment to herself, she goes into her closet. The racks are lined with Gucci circa Tom Ford era, iconic bits of her own sartorial journey, and, of course, G. Label by Goop. “I like to go in there and just sort of reminisce,” she told CULTURED Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson on the set of her Los Angeles cover shoot for the magazine’s latest issue. 

The actor and entrepreneur—who seems to go scarcely a day without inciting praise and discourse in equal measure—leads CULTURED’s inaugural CULT 100 list, a collection of individuals shaping society as we know it. In her cover story, written by Emilia Petrarca, Paltrow revealed herself as a hands-on businesswoman, regularly checking her Slack messages and LinkedIn notifications. “I mean, I have a company of 200-plus people,” she told Petrarca with characteristic nonchalance. 

As Paltrow cycled through the Bottega Veneta, Miu Miu, and Alaïa looks and Boucheron accessories on hand during the shoot, Harrelson also sat her down for 5 Points of Culture, a deep dive into the actor’s own cultural topography—a mix of Bradley Cooper movies, Mark Rothko paintings, and runway shows. “I love fashion as a genre,” she said. “It’s where expression gets attention and then translates into something more commercial, whereas everything else feels so pop-y right now, and a little dumbed down.”

She also revealed the creative mind behind Goop’s well-trafficked guides: Paltrow herself. “I do do a lot of the Goop guides myself. That’s how I started Goop, [it] was really around travel and offering the coolest parts of cities to our readers.” The platform, which has now expanded into a full-scale retail site with Netflix spin-offs and sky-high cultural capital, has become the linchpin of Paltrow’s public image, more so even than her iconic roles in films like Iron Man, Shakespeare in Love, or The Royal Tenenbaums. 

As Petrarca explains, “In 2008, when Goop was founded, the public was particularly starved for direction. In the face of economic collapse and general doom and gloom, Prophet Paltrow emerged as a figure you could trust to tell you how to make yourself feel better. Sixteen years later, the vibes are still very much bad—perhaps worse than they were before—and we clearly still crave her self-assured guidance and blissed-out lifestyle, which only seems to become more blissed-out with each passing day.”

This installment of 5 Points of Culture may only serve as one more glimpse into the endlessly fascinating preferences of Prophet Paltrow. But, for a moment, perhaps it will satisfy our insatiable hunger for more.

Video by Michael Morales