What Was She Doing at Gwyneth Paltrow's House?

Never underestimate the power of Internet detective work. When Beyoncé posted a selfie to Instagram on Monday, she probably wasn't expecting it to be examined so closely. After all, she posts selfies to Instagram all the time and Beyoncé had posted the remix to "Flawless" earlier that same day, so people should have been focusing on that instead. However, it only took a day for the Internet to realize that Beyoncé's Instagram photo was taken in a familiar location. To be specific, Beyoncé took her photo at Gwyneth Paltrow's house while she was in Los Angeles during the On the Run Tour and that could be even more significant than we think. After all, I don't mean to make everything about Beyoncé's possibly upcoming divorce, but these days everything is about Beyoncé's possibly upcoming divorce.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyoncé are longtime friends who do things like go on vacation together allegedly follow one another's example into marriage counseling. When Paltrow and Chris Martin consciously upcoupled, they had to sit down and think about how to avoid having to fight over who kept custody of Beyoncé and Jay Z. No, really. That was a concern, according to reports at the time. Now that Beyoncé and Jay Z are rumored to be on the verge of a split themselves, is it possible that Beyoncé was paying Goop more than just a social call?

If Beyoncé were looking to Gwyneth Paltrow for advice on how to move forward, what kind of advice would Goop give her based on her experiences?

Tip #1: Try to stay friends.

If there's one thing that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are excelling at, it's remaining amicable exes. The two of them hang out so often that you wouldn't think they were divorced at all and they've been an excellent team in taking care of their children. Beyoncé and Jay Z have Blue Ivy to think about, so of course Goop would suggest that Beyoncé and Jay Z need to keep their post-divorce relationship as amicable as possible. Based on the PDA running rampant during the On the Run Tour, Beyoncé and Jay Z might not have a problem with that.

Tip #2: Don't use a catch phrase.

As far as I can tell, the world still hasn't stopped mocking Paltrow for her use of the phrase "conscious uncoupling" to describe what happened between her and Martin. There's been no sign that Goop is sick of it, but I'm willing to bet she probably is. When Beyoncé is drafting the joint statement for herself and Jay Z announcing their divorce, Paltrow would definitely advise her to stay away from meme-worthy phrases like conscious uncoupling to make her point, no matter how unconventionally she wants to make it.

Tip #3: Be careful with your next album.

If Coldplay's first album after Martin's divorce — Ghost Stories — was about anything other than the slow death of his relationship with Paltrow, then nobody got that memo. Sure, Martin admitted that the album was heavily inspired by his experiences, but most people only listened to the album to hear Martin's pain in music form and not because they were suddenly into Coldplay. (I apologize if you're genuinely a fan of Coldplay.) Beyoncé needs to be careful not to let Jay Z color her follow-up to Beyoncé too much.

Tip #4: Focus on yourself.

Paltrow has, for all intents and purposes, been doing fine in the wake of her split from Martin. Sure, Paltrow might think water has feelings, but, to be fair, she's always been like that. She's a big name actress, she's a domestic queen, she has her own Lifestyle website, and she seems perfectly fine being all the single ladies, all the single ladies. Beyoncé is Beyoncé, but if the rumors about Jay Z cheating on her are true then her confidence might take a dive and Paltrow would advise her not to let that happen. They both wake up flawless, after all.

Image: Getty Images; beyonce/Instagram