“WHEN I WAS 26, my father was diagnosed with cancer,” Paltrow explains. “And I so badly wanted him to get better that I started researching the different toxins in consumer products — anything that might be making him sick.”

She discovered that many goods — food, makeup, skincare — use harmful synthetics. Potential side effects? Everything from premature aging to hormone imbalance to cancer.

“As an actress, I spend a lot of time in makeup,” Paltrow continues. “And while I don’t wear it heavily in my day-to-day life, many people do. Even men will slather themselves in lotion, so, this impacts everyone.”

Another problem, Paltrow says, is a lack of consumer education — that corporations conceal antifreeze, which millions of people apply to their face every day.

“But thankfully that’s starting to change,” she adds. “The past 10, 20 years — with the advent of the Internet — have seen an explosion of information around what we put in and on our bodies. The issue now is making organic products effective and affordable so people can buy them once they know what to get.”

According to Paltrow, it’s now the consumers turn to solidify this disruption.

“It’s up to us to demonstrate this issue’s important,” Paltrow continues. “Because it’s clear that the consumer will always win over time. We can vote with our wallets.”

And with everyone from Jessica Alba’s Honest Company to Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James now also brandishing the toxin-free flag, we have to ask: was it tough going first?

“I founded Goop in 2008, long before wellness was trendy… And I remember David Bowie once said, ‘Never be the first to do anything.’  It’s easier to be second. [Laughs] Let’s just say I now understand why.”