The goop Podcast

GP sat down with Kerry Washington in front of a live audience, and they started reminiscing about going to the same all-girls school in New York City. They talked about how their education shaped the trajectory of their lives in different ways (and also about that time Jennifer Lopez was Washington’s dance teacher). Washington told us why her heart breaks a little for her eleven-year-old self and what it was like learning to navigate her feelings. She talked about the role race plays in her life and in one of her newest projects, American Son, a Broadway play turned Netflix feature. And they talked about the other roles they’ve played as actors, mothers, and stepmothers—and the experience of stepping into your power as a woman. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“We need to do something different to feel something different,” says Will Cole, DC, functional medicine practitioner and cohost of the goopfellas podcast. Today, he’s talking with chief content officer and friend Elise Loehnen about why so many of us feel chronically unwell. He takes us through the roots of inflammation and the two elimination food plans designed to soothe them, outlined in his new book The Inflammation Spectrum. He explains why certain foods work for certain people and not others and how we can all identify the foods that help us feel our best—without resorting to deprivation or shame. And Cole answers some keto questions: why we get stuck in sugar-burning mode, how to burn fat for fuel, and the basis of Ketotarian, his first book and way of eating. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“I have more freedom than I’ve ever had,” says Catt Sadler, journalist and host of the podcast NAKED. After more than a decade of working at E! Entertainment, Sadler, who has won three Emmys, chose to leave over a wage gap issue. Today, she sits down with chief content officer Elise Loehnen to talk about becoming an entrepreneur and your own boss in life. She explains why anger sometimes pushes us to take action in the right direction. And Sadler and Loehnen talk about why they believe we’re living in an age of vulnerability, about the permission we look for to just be ourselves, and about the space we need to create to have the raw conversations that push us forward. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“We would much rather think than do,” says Barry Michels, psychotherapist and coauthor of The Tools and Coming Alive. He sat down with GP at In goop Health London to share his tools for letting go of negativity, for holding pain, and for doing the difficult things that bring us fulfillment. They also talk a lot about the feminine and masculine forces at work in the culture and within each of us, what happens when they get out of balance, and how we can recalibrate. Michels explains why he believes in healthy entitlement, and GP asks him how we can invite the truth into our relationships. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“We’re so caught up in our own sense of not belonging,” says Elaine Welteroth, “that we aren’t even recognizing that we’re all in it together.” The former editor in chief of Teen Vogue and the author of More than Enough joins Elise Loehnen to talk about making space for ourselves and others at the office and in love. Welteroth believes that struggle and heartbreak serve a purpose and that hers have shown her that she is far more resilient than she had imagined. They talk about coming into their own as women and as leaders. They talk about race, colorism, diversity, white privilege, “the pretty privilege,” and how we can push all of these conversations forward. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“We need to change the cage we’re all living in,” says Johann Hari, the author of Lost Connections. Hari struggled with depression for most of his life. For two different reasons, he was told it was all in his head. He got some relief with antidepressant medication but not enough. And as a journalist, he wanted to understand why more people were feeling the same way—depressed, anxious, disconnected, lonely. In this uplifting conversation from In goop Health London, Hari shared what he’s learned about the root causes of depression and the potential solutions. He talks about what happens when we don’t get our needs met, why “social prescribing” works, how we can let go of shame and process trauma, and the ways we can connect with one another right now. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“Being alive and existing isn’t good enough,” says Dr. Robin Berzin. “We want to feel well.” The founder and CEO of the functional medicine practice Parsley Health believes that the scope of our health care system is dated, and that we need to bridge the gap between medicine and wellness. Her work melds the conventional with the traditional, and modern technology with intimate connection. Today Berzin shares her take on lab testing, diet, supplements, genetics, the future of personalized care, and more. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“We may think we know when people are lying, but basically we have no clue,” says Malcolm Gladwell, journalist and New York Times–bestselling author of Talking to Strangers, The Tipping Point, and Blink. Gladwell explores the assumptions we make as a culture—and debunks them. Elise Loehnen, our chief content officer, asks him about misperceptions, split-second judgments, intuition, and doing the work to understand how someone feels. Gladwell shares some creative solutions that would restructure the way we live, think, work, and relate to one another. And he replaces complacency with compassion and curiosity.(For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“I want to be frightened and afraid I’m not going to be able to do it,” says actor Sarah Paulson about what draws her to play a particular character. Paulson, who stars as Xandra in The Goldfinch (out now), met Elise Loehnen to talk about the trajectory of her career, life, and love. They talk about the times Paulson felt she was “at the mercy of other people’s opinions,” the years when she felt like she was never going to have an opportunity, and why her whole life changed when a play in New York City fell through. They talk about Paulson’s great manifestation (and how she didn’t realize she was manifesting). They talk about how hard it is to know yourself, what happens when you’re with people who demand authenticity, and what it’s been like for Paulson to capture the public imagination in her relationship with the equally incredible Holland Taylor. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“Why should you believe that just because you have an opinion that that's the right opinion?” asks Ray Dalio, founder of prestigious investment management firm Bridgewater Associates and author of Principles. GP and Dalio talk about how they hear and hold criticism, how to have tough conversations, and how we can engage in thoughtful disagreement. They explore the rare culture Dalio created at Bridgewater—one of radical transparency, where people are both encouraged and required to speak straight, and where decision-making processes are recorded so that everyone has full visibility into the choice made. And they push us into curiosity. “If you love knowing and you’re attached to knowing, it’ll stand in the way of your learning,” says Dalio. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub and check out Dalio’s app, Principles In Action).

“I have not been able to find a single piece of research that tells me that anything bad happens when women have more money,” says Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and cofounder of Ellevest. Krawcheck joins chief content officer Elise Loehnen to talk about why women make reallygood investors and how money can mean freedom. She talks about how she became the most powerful woman on Wall Street (“in the day,” Krawcheck insists). She shares what she’s learned about the ways men and women look at money and why women are taught to feel so much shame and guilt around it. And she teaches us what to do with money and how to start investing with whatever we have. Bonus: Krawcheck is giving all interested listeners $50 to start investing at Ellevest.com/goop or on the app with gift code goop. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

Brian MacKenzie doesn’t like when people tell him to “just breathe” either. So even though he’s the founder of a (great, practical, helpful) breathing app (State), you won’t hear those words coming out of his mouth. MacKenzie, the founder of Power Speed Endurance and a performance junkie, joins chief content officer Elise Loehnen to talk about tools for dealing with stress and anxiety. He explains the difference between sympathetic and parasympathetic personalities and how we can use this knowledge to plan our day in a way that avoids burnout. He explains why we don’t make good decisions when we’re stressed out (we default to habitual responses). He convinces us of the power of breath, tells us the times and places where mouth breathing is okay, and challenges us to get through a workout with our mouths shut. Learning to control our breath, MacKenzie says, helps us run our nervous system—rather than letting it run us. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“Ninety-nine percent of the time when we use the word ‘can’t,’ it’s really a euphemism for ‘won’t,’” says entrepreneur Marie Forleo, the author of Everything Is Figureoutable. Forleo’s specialty is bridging the gap between thinking about doing something and doing it. She believes that clarity comes from engagement, not thought. And that fear is directive, and that most of the time, it’s “trying to nudge us to a project or a possibility or a growth edge where there’s magic.” She shares her tools for following fear and for pushing beyond the mental blocks that keep us from tackling our goals. She acknowledges how scary it can be to admit what we dream of doing—and how difficult it can be even to decipher what we want. She encourages us to imagine the worst-case scenario first and figure out how to work our way back from it. And then: Imagine the very-best-case scenario. And take a step, even a small step, toward it. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

Peggy Orenstein, bestselling author of Girls and Sex, explores the gaps and nuances of intimacy. Today, she talks to Elise about how girls and women are taught that being sexy is important, but being “sexual” is reserved for men. They talk about why women are groomed to think about the potential dangers and harms of sex first—and why we often never learn to prioritize joy (or orgasm). Orenstein’s research involves a lot of fieldwork—she visits fraternities the morning after a party to find out why texting a sexual partner the next day can be so fraught. She helps us reframe the way we think about sex and pleasure. She helps us take back control of our own sexual experience. And she guides us as we try to help our children and the generations behind us to grow into their own fulfilling intimate lives.  (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

This is a handbook for people of all political leanings and persuasions—and for people who aren’t political at all but want to meaningfully engage with an issue. Shannon Watts—author of Fight Like a Mother, founder of Moms Demand Action, mother of five, and self-described type A personality—never thought she’d find herself leading a movement. But she stepped to the front of one, and her life (and our world) has never been the same since. Moms Demand Action is one of the largest grassroots movements in the country, focused on protecting people from gun violence. You’ll be surprised by what Watts has learned about gun sense, buoyed by the victories she’s already had, and convinced by her conviction that there’s a better ending coming. And whatever issue matters to you, you’ll want her road map for getting involved, in small ways or big, to guide you through the practical and the emotional. (And if you want to get involved with Moms Demand Action, text “READY” to 644-33. For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)