Gwyneth Paltrow bizarrely claims she was one of the ‘first people’ to wear a face mask

Gwyneth Paltrow suggested during an interview with The New York Times that she was the first one to popularise the habit of wearing a face mask.

To be fair, the 48-year-old wellness guru and former actor did share a selfie to Instagram of herself wearing a face mask in February 2020, before most countries halted international travel when the virus began to spread quickly.

She said: “This is a familiar pattern in my life. I do something early, everyone is like: ‘What is she doing? She’s insane.’ And then it’s adopted by the culture.”

She continued: “I had to take this trip to France when it was all kicking off. I wore it on the plane, but I didn’t wear it to the function that I was going to, and actually ended up getting Covid and coming home, and being one of the first people that I had heard of to have it.”

The journalist Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who conducted the interview, wrote sardonically on Twitter: “Obviously, she remains my fave 4ever and ever.”

Someone else commented: “Thank you Gwyneth for adopting face masks into the culture #savinglives.”

Last week in a personal essay, shared on her infamous Goop website, Paltrow said she had been experiencing long-term Covid-19 symptoms including ongoing fatigue, brain fog, and inflammation.

She wrote: “I had Covid-19 early on, and it left me with some long-tail fatigue and brain fog. In January, I had some tests done that showed really high levels of inflammation in my body,” before saying she had adopted a combination of intermittent fasting and a plant-based ketogenic diet to try to curb the symptoms.

She continued: “Everything I’m doing feels good, like a gift to my body. I have energy, I’m working out in the mornings, and I’m doing an infrared sauna as often as I can, all in service of healing.”

People pointed out that people living in Asian countries such as Japan, China and Taiwan have worn masks for decades, with the practice preceding the coronavirus pandemic.

One person tweeted: “Seems like Gwyneth had never been to Japan before. Or South Korea. Or in fact any of East Asia.”

However, Paltrow has always claimed to be a trendsetter.

Previously, in 2018 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Paltrow made similar comments claiming to have popularized yoga.

She said: “I remember when I started doing yoga and people were like: ‘What is yoga? She’s a witch. She’s a freak.

“Forgive me if this comes out wrong, but I went to do a yoga class in LA recently, and the 22-year-old girl behind the counter was like, ‘Have you ever done yoga before?’ And literally I turned to my friend, and I was like, ‘You have this job because I’ve done yoga before.’”