‘GO F*** YOURSELF’

Gwyneth Paltrow Defends Her ‘Punk Rock’ Vagina-Scented Candle

The actress explained why she chose to continue selling the candle, which started out as a joke.

Gwyneth Paltrow defended her lifestyle brand’s infamous vagina-scented candle, telling people that if they didn’t like it, then “go f--- yourself.” The Oscar-winning actress said at the 2025 Mindvalley Manifesting Summit in Los Angeles Sunday that although her brand Goop’s candle, “This Smells Like My Vagina,” began as a joke, she ended up loving the “punk rock idea” it represented. “There is an aspect to women’s sexuality that I think we’re socialized to feel a lot of shame,” she said. “And I loved this kind of punk rock idea: we are beautiful, and we are awesome, and go f--- yourself.” The $75 candle was created after she told Douglas Little, whose brand Heretic Parfum created the candle, that one particular scent smelled like, “you know.” He suggested they make it a candle, and she replied “yah, definitely, that sounds like a winner right there.” Then the pair “broke the internet,” with the actress admitting that “it took us a long time to live that one down.” Although the candle is now discontinued, Goop has released similar scents, like “Hands Off My Vagina” in 2023, in honor of Roe v. Wade. $25 from the sale of each candle went to the ACLU Foundation’s Reproductive Freedom Project.