Gwyneth Paltrow’s notorious Goop candle became a viral symbol of the company’s stranger side, but the actor says the product was never conceived as a serious attempt to capture an intimate scent. Its startling name, she explained, began with a joke.

The candle, called ‘This Smells Like My Vagina,’ initially sold for $75 and drew widespread attention in 2020. For many people, it became closely associated with Paltrow and her sometimes unconventional lifestyle company.

That association has endured alongside a career that includes an Oscar win, MCU appearances, and roles in films such as Se7en and The Royal Tenenbaums. The candle, however, generated a peculiar cultural moment of its own.

During an interview on the Friends Keep Secrets podcast with Lil Dicky, Benny Blanco, and Kristin Batalucco, Paltrow retraced its unusual journey from casual remark to Goop product. The story began as she worked on a new perfume.

Paltrow was collaborating with Douglas Little, whom she described as a “nose.” As they considered a fragrance, her sense of humor took the conversation in an unexpected direction.

The actor said she has a “very bawdy sense of humour” and also enjoys unusual smells. While considering one scent, she recalled saying: “I went ‘this one smells like my vagina’.”

Little believed Paltrow was being serious rather than making a throwaway joke. He then went away and created the candle that would carry the phrase ‘This Smells Like My Vagina.’

Image Credit: Screenshot, YouTube / Friends Keep Secrets

Paltrow said the misunderstanding extended to her company team, which moved ahead with the product. She described the remark as a joke and added: “My team bought the candle I thought I was joking.”

Despite the provocative name, Paltrow confirmed that the candle did not smell like her or like any vagina. The fragrance inside the jar was different from what its headline grabbing branding suggested.

Goop eventually stopped selling the candle because Paltrow said it was “distracting” from the company’s wider work. Blanco confirmed that obtaining one for the podcast cost $600, far above its original $75 selling price.

Paltrow has previously offered a more serious explanation for the candle during an Instagram question and answer session. She connected its message to the shame that many women in her generation had been encouraged to feel about their bodies.

She said: “So many women have been raised, at least in my generation, to think there’s something wrong with themselves, or that the vagina is weird, or gross, or something to be ashamed of.”

Paltrow presented the candle as an intentionally confrontational answer to those attitudes. “So the candle was supposed to be a very strong, punk rock ‘F you’ to anyone who ever made us feel like that.”

Image Credit: Goop

The scent itself reinforced the divide between the scandalous title and the actual product. “It smelled like roses and all kinds of things [instead of smelling like a vagina] — and that was the point.”

The podcast conversation also moved into the origins of Goop. Paltrow, the Shakespeare in Love Oscar winner, described herself as a “pretty discerning person” while discussing the information available during the early days of the internet.

She said online information about the best cultural places in different cities was poor at that time. Her discussion of the brand’s name was interrupted when the podcast conversation went off on a tangent.

Paltrow has previously explained that an expert told her many successful brands had two O’s in their names. She placed two O’s between her initials, creating Goop and giving the company the name it still carries.

The unusual name stuck, just as the candle’s joke did. Yet the product ultimately attracted enough attention away from Goop’s broader work that the company decided to stop selling it.

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