Caroline Goldfarb
⤏ IN CONVERSATION WITH SARAH RAMOS
⤏ PHOTOS BY CARLY PALMOUR | MAKE-UP BY CHRISTINA HARPER | STYLING BY ANNAPURNA KREADEN
⤏ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2019
Caroline Goldfarb is so funny, enthusiastic, and sexy it’s contagious. She is so overflowing with intelligence, artistry, and star-power that she is often confused with acclaimed film actor Sean Penn, the inspiration behind the name of her viral Instagram account @OfficialSeanPenn. But her social media persona is only the tip of her artistic iceberg: you can also treat yourself to towels and notebooks emblazoned with her pop culture collages from her website carolinegoldfarb.com and enjoy her wit as a writer for many TV shows (Alone Together, The Late Late Show with James Corden, the upcoming Chad). It was my joy and honor to interview the only woman I know who consistently pulls off pairing slip dresses with Sketchers and accessories from AliExpress.
SARAH: Sarah here at Caroline’s apartment eating Twizzlers and watermelon margaritas, just to set the scene on a balmy Wednesday evening in Los Angeles — Caroline’s hometown.
CAROLINE: Ha! That’s right.
S: So to preface, I have decided to stop looking at Instagram so regularly so I don’t see the hilarious OfficialSeanPenn content everyday.
C: I barely post anymore! I really have to force myself to post two to three times a week, but it’s a labor for me.
S: Why do you feel like that?
C: I just feel like it’s such little reward and it’s a lot of pressure to be funny — to think of the perfect post, to stand out in what I now think of as an overcrowded sea of content — especially because I feel like I’ve been doing my voice for such a long time. I log on and I feel like I’m seeing my voice proliferated through others and I’m like, “Is this my voice?” Like pairing a bizarre celebrity paparazzi picture with funny commentary. I feel like that was my thing and now I see other people do it and I wonder what I can still bring to the game that’s different without seeming like I’m just another one.
S: In the same way Petra Collins popularized this specific photography style, everyone is ripping it off now. And now she has to develop her own individualized stuff even though she’s the one who started it.
C: I just feel like whatever OSP (OfficialSeanPenn) is, has been duped, has been copied and I just want to make sure I’m bringing something that’s new and innovative to the game.
S: And I feel like that’s a great, positive way to look at it. And even more positive it’s like, rather than people ripping you off, you inspired people to do that! You’re an icon!
C: It’s so true I’m most definitely an icon. It’s always been really important to me to not get stuck in a lane of being like, “Oh wow she has a really funny Instagram.” It’s really important to me to make sure that I’m making equal strides as a writer and performer.
S: Which you are!
C: And podcast host. And margarita maker. And candy aficionado! And I know it sounds like I’m on such a high horse, but I’ve really switched gears from being OSP to just being on my personal Instagram and seeing what my friends are doing.
S: I don’t think it sounds like you’re on a high horse I think that sounds healthy. I can use Instagram as a self harm tool. I compare myself to people who are doing kind of the same thing as I am, but I can spin it into them doing better. That’s why I have to delete it and stuff.
C: Right now I’m in a writers room where we have a no phone policy.
S: Oh really?
C: And my happiness and true level of self satisfaction is so much higher when I’m not on my phone. It just is! Being off my phone from 10am-7pm is incredible! It’s incredible. Now it makes my wrist hurt when I use my phone! I have wrist pain! Although, I find that I have weird addictions on my phone. I’m really proud of myself because I’m not just addicted to Instagram I’m really addicted to so many diverse platforms.
S: So I want to ask you a question, because when I was going through your Instagram to prep for this I just realized that a lot of your tagged photos are about Sean Penn the actor.
C: Oh yeah I would say about half of my followers still think that I’m Sean Penn. Well not half, but a solid amount and it’s kinda sad to go through the DMs and read things like, “Hi Mr. Sean I love —”
S: How could they think that you’re Sean Penn? Wasn’t the reason that you picked Sean Penn because he just has no humor to him? He’s so serious.
C: The most serious man alive. I mean what does Sean Penn even do? I mean god bless him for his environmental work, but I think he’s on that Leo [DiCaprio] tip where he’s dating really, really young women.
S: Do you remember any of the other celebrities that you tried out?
“I would say about half of my followers still think that I’m Sean Penn.”
C: Yes! Official Sonia Sotomayor was my favorite, it was so long and the name would take up half of the screen. Official Meryl Streep. I think all of my college friends were all trying to outdo each other with who could think of the funniest ones. Someone had Official Bjork.
S: I feel like all of these are funny, but Sean Penn really has it.
C: Sean Penn has no awareness of social media whatsoever. Me and Sean Penn are so antithetical. We would have nothing to talk about! There would be dead silence. There would be no sexual chemistry. No nothing.
S: How did growing up in LA inform your pop culture obsession?
C: I love LA. I’m a hardcore LA truther, believer, I’m a hardcore Angeleno. When you’re just tantalizingly on the outskirts of Hollywood — being raised in the suburbs, going to school with the kids of Hollywood executives and C-List actors, being two-degrees away from someone whose parent was this, or whose parent was that —
S: Which Kardashian went to the school you went to?
C: Rob Kardashian. And he was the heartthrob of Buckley. I feel like I was always one or two degrees away from the people I obsessed over.
S: I’ve developed a theory about pop culture obsession, because I grew up as a child actor, but also reading Us Weekly cover to cover, every Monday when it showed up. We work out our own opinions and philosophies on life when we talk about how we feel about Miley and Liam’s breakup.
C: I agree. It’s like a prismatic way to view ourselves and our relationships and the world around us. You can feel people’s own lives in the way they talk about a celebrity.
S: What was your dad’s reaction to OfficialSeanPenn?
C: It’s kinda sad. I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder and a complex about it because I don’t feel like my parents really understand or care. And it’s like, why should they? We live in this crazy world where people can be influencers and have a lot of followers and I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder about it. I always felt not super proud because it’s not a real tangible thing. It’s not dollars in your bank account, it’s not mainstream fame, or entertainment industry recognition. I’m just a niche internet celebrity. It’s not something that I’ve ever been super proud of. I think it’s cool, but I also think it’s like the least cool thing in the world to be internet famous.
S: It’s not what you grew up with?
C: I just think my parents don’t really understand. They don’t get it. There’s many layers of irony and it’s like horny, thirsty, unhinged commentary on very niche celebrities. It’s a generational kind of thing! It does feel like the things I’m saying are Chinese to my dad. Like my dad does not understand, or care about my thoughts on Dennis Rodman’s TikTok, but I need to share that with the world, and I know there are people who need to see that.
S: Do you consider yourself an influencer?
C: I don’t think so. I’ll definitely admit that I could use my followers for evil and not good.
S: What do you mean?
C: I want to dip my toe into being an influencer and get the benefits that come with having a lot of followers. Like free Twizzlers. But I don’t consider myself an influencer.
S: Why do you think celebrities like to consume your celebrity content?
C: I’m a believer that funny is funny. I mean Salma Hayek adopting a pet owl? I think funny is funny and I’m just looking for things that make me laugh.
S: Do you subscribe to 2000s nostalgia?
“It’s not dollars in your bank account, it’s not mainstream fame, or entertainment industry recognition. I’m just a niche internet celebrity.”
C: Oh completely! Those are my formative years. You’re becoming an adult, you’re coming into your sexuality, you’re learning about yourself and it happened to coincide with that period of extreme tabloid culture and constant exposure to crazy female tabloid fixtures. I mean my earliest weather vanes for what I was comparing myself to were like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. I know you and I have talked about Lindsay’s Dooney & Bourke ads. Those are absolutely singed into my brain.
S: Where were you during Britney’s breakdown?
C: I was like 17. This was back when celebrity gossip was at its finest and I remember there was a post that was being updated live called “Brituation ‘07” and it was that dark time when she was taken on the psychiatric hold and I remember refreshing it, reading every update, and being very distraught.
S: Britney is kinda the original Kanye?
C: Britney is totally the original Kanye!
S: Do you think that the celebrities we grew up with were better than what the kids have today? Or are we just old?
C: I can’t answer that. We’re old and also they’re better.
S: I feel like we were way more controlled by celebrity culture groupthink and all the girls had to be the exact same kind of sexy. There was gay panic and everyone was in the closet.
“In an age where anyone can be famous, fame itself is not as special.”
C: I mean you just can’t argue with the popstars of our time. Before the internet when there were actual album sales there was more money and things were on a bigger scale? I’ll take that any day over streaming.
S: Do you still watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians?
C: Yes! I love Keeping Up with the Kardashians. I watch it obsessively! It reminds me a lot of Planet Earth, because, you know how on Planet Earth you’re watching the most HD cameras capture some of the most dynamic visual elements of our natural world? Looking at a beetle in the jungle with the naked eye is not that interesting, but when you see it in slo-mo HD, it’s fabulous! And then there’s the Kardashians, who I’m watching — not because I love reality TV, right? Like I don’t love the boring shit that’s happening in their lives. But it’s like watching these finely tuned wealthy angels of fame with the best fillers, and tweaks, and clothes, and hair extensions money can buy all in full HD. It’s the visuals of it that I find so stimulating.
S: How would you describe your visual aesthetic?
C: Horny Lisa Frank, meets David LaChapelle, meets your one weird aunt with a floral couch or something.
S: How has pop culture worship changed since we grew up?
C: I mean, who are the real movie stars that are left? It’s like the last movie stars are Leo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Like what’s a star right now? There’s Youtube stars; is that a star? In an age where anyone can be famous, fame itself is not as special.
S: Where do you see yourself evolving to?
C: I think I’m just going to keep evolving as Caroline Goldfarb and OfficialSeanPenn is just an exciting extension of my brand and voice.
S: If you’re Miley Cyrus, OfficialSeanPenn is your Hannah Montana?
C: Best of both worlds! But for all intents and purposes I gotta be my own me, it’s the climb. But it really is about being Caroline.
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⤏ SARAH RAMOS (SHE/HER) HAS BEEN AN ACTOR SINCE CHILDHOOD. MOST KNOWN FOR HER ROLE ON PARENTHOOD, SARAH NOW SPENDS MOST OF HER TIME WRITING AND DIRECTING HER OWN SHORT FILMS.