Former Goop Exec Says She Swore Off Cleanses

This week, Alice Lohen, the former chief content officer of Goop, took to Instagram to talk about the culture of cleaning. Lohen, who worked at the company for seven years before stepping down in 2020, said in a video that when she quit her job at Goop, she decided to "abandon all cleaning." She explained, "For me, it was synonymous with dieting and restriction, and I felt like I was not in a healthy relationship with my body. I was always trying to punish it, get it under control."

A large part of Goop's business model involves offering dieting advice under the guise of "wellness," with the brand often touting detoxifying cleanses to rid your body of unspecified negative buildup. In addition to posts detailing exactly what to eat for each meal, Goop also sells a handful of detox kits on its site, including its own seven-day "reset kit."

In her post, Lohen wrote that when she left Goop, she needed to "break her tendency to be critical and punishing" when it came to food. She says she went into "absolute rebellion," which she described as "kind of fun and decidedly healthy about what my body should look like as a 42-year-old who has two kids."

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As the second person hired by founder Gwyneth Paltrow, Lohen was a founding member of the Goop empire: she joined as editorial director in 2014 before graduating as chief content officer in 2014. In October 2020, when Lohanan stepped down from his position to write a book. , Paltrow said she was "like a sister" and "without her, Goop wouldn't exist in this iteration."

While there is no scientific evidence to support the benefits of detoxing, Goop employees participate in several cleanses approved by the brand. According to the brand's website, the entire team follows Dr. Alejandro Junger's five-day "elimination diet," consisting of one solid meal a day, eaten each year with a collection of supplements, teas and premixed shake powders.

Despite noting that "wellness culture can be toxic," it seems as though Lohen hasn't vowed a thorough cleanse: She notes that she recently had a better experience with the Chroma Cleanse, because She says she didn't weigh herself and took a less restrictive approach. (While Chroma is not for sale on Goop's website, Paltrow appears to be one of its celebrity investors.)

Lohen apparently didn't blame Goop for fostering an unhealthy affinity for food, but she marked her departure from the brand as the moment she began to change her habits. "I'm trying to get to a place where I can interact with my body again," she said, "those conversations were distorted."