Gwyneth Paltrow’s status as a wellness guru is part of her lore – it’s almost eclipsed her career as an actress. She started her wellness and lifestyle brand Goop as a newsletter in 2008 before expanding into e-commerce in 2011. What followed is a print magazine, a podcast, various pop-up shops, bi-annual ‘wellness summits’, a line of bondage harnesses, a viral candle called ‘This Smells Like My Vagina’ and a Netflix docuseries.

At least in the most capitalist sense of the word ‘wellness’, Paltrow reigns supreme. So how does she feel about other celebrity blogger turned lifestyle influencers foraying into the space? Especially when one such person is the Duchess of Sussex, who also happens to be one of her neighbours in Montecito, California.

It’s no secret that Meghan Markle fancies herself as a lifestyle guru too. She started her own blog, The Tig, in 2014 where she discussed food, travel, fashion and beauty and offered her insights and observations on womanhood. It was rather astutely named after the actress’s favourite wine, Tignanello (which you can buy yourself for a cool £140+). However, shortly after Markle started dating Prince Harry she was forced to retire from her post as a lifestyle blogger to become a working member of the royal family.

Sadly, we all know how that worked out, and in 2020 Harry and Markle stepped down as senior royals and moved to California where they now reside with their two young children. In their new roles as royal-celebrity-philanthropist-influencer hybrids, Markle has returned to her roots. In March, she launched her second venture with Netflix, With Love, Meghan, where she explores ‘the art of hosting’, shares her favourite family recipes, makes her own jam, plucks herbs from her garden and tablescapes for her friends and family. Despite being met with a mixed response from fans and critics – unsurprisingly, given that Markle has been tabloid fodder for the best part of a decade – the series has been renewed for a second season.

With Love, Meghan was launched in tandem with Markle’s new Instagram page, where after a cursory glance she could easily be mistaken for a Trad wife. In her most recent post, Markle is facing away from the camera with her two children, wearing a wicker hat and carrying a wicker basket, as they forage around their manicured garden for fresh produce. The caption is, naturally, ‘every day is a love story’.

Paltrow’s Instagram tells a similar story. Bordering her recent Vanity Fair cover story are podcast clips where she shares her recipe for ‘green goddess crunch salad’, inspirational quotes about wellness and a reel where she prepares ‘gluten free buttermilk biscuits’ as part of her signature ‘boyfriend breakfast’ for her husband, Brad Falchuk.

In a world where it is not unusual for women to be pitted against each other for wearing the same colour to an event, the fact Paltrow and Markle have increasingly similar ‘vibes’ appears to be too much for some people to handle. There must be tension somewhere – especially if they both enjoy organic food, linen shirts and cooking in their Montecito mansions.

Paltrow’s latest ‘boyfriend breakfast’ was even set to ‘This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)’ by Natalie Cole, which happens to be the theme song to Markle’s new Netflix show. This gave way to an online debate about whether Paltrow was parodying Markle or ‘throwing shade’, with one article even claiming that Paltrow’s biscuits ‘sparked controversy’. The Daily Mail has even dubbed it a ‘breakfast war’.

During her recent cover interview with Vanity Fair, Paltrow was asked her thoughts about Markle’s ‘Goop-adjacent’ Netflix show and whether she feels the Duchess is stepping on her toes. Her response was incredibly refreshing – albeit disappointing for those feeding off the fake rivalry. She said whenever ‘there’s noise about certain women in the culture, I do have, always, a strong instinct to stand up for them’.

‘I was raised to see other women as friends, not foes,’ the actress continued. ‘I think there’s always more than enough to go around. Everybody deserves an attempt at everything that they want to try.’ Paltrow also admitted that, despite living down the road from one another, she doesn’t ‘know Meghan and Harry’ well and hasn’t spoken to them about the new show. ‘I’ve met Meghan, who seems really lovely,’ she went on, ‘but I don’t know her at all. Maybe I’ll try to get through their security detail and bring them a pie.’

It was a perfect response to the easy, but ever so barbed suggestion that she might be ‘threatened’ by Markle’s return to the world of health and wellness. Instead, Paltrow emphasised that she welcomes all women into the ‘proverbial lifestyle space’, crediting her mother Blythe Danner for teaching her that ‘another woman is never your competition’.

From Paltrow’s signature whimsy, there’s every possibility that she chose Markle’s theme tune at random. It’s unlikely she has even watched With Love, Meghan. Her making breakfast in her immaculate, expansive kitchen is hardly a break from norm anyway, let alone a ‘parody’. Most importantly, though, she has said in her own words that she has no issue with Markle’s new career path, that she doesn’t know her well but thinks she’s ‘lovely’ and that she might even bring them a homemade pie.

Why, then, do we choose to relish in these fake feuds, particularly ones involving women? It only takes five minutes of browsing on social media to discover that there is no truth behind it. It is not a crime, or indeed the foundation of an interesting story, for two women to enjoy the same pastimes. Markle and Paltrow are both wealthy women who like growing their own cabbages and cooking in white trousers. For them at least, Paltrow is right, there is more than enough to go around.