Gwyneth Paltrow has finally let the world in on how, exactly, Goop came to sell a candle that launched a thousand headlines thanks to its very unique name: This Smells Like My Vagina.
The actor turned wellness guru explained the whole story to Jimmy Kimmel—and no, she doesn’t actually think it smells like her vagina. “It started as a funny joke,” she said of the $75 candle.
“So Douglas Little, who is the owner of Heretic Perfume, we’re very close friends and we’ve worked together a lot. He does all of our fragrances for us, and one day we were smelling different fragrances and I was joking around and I smelled something and I said…,” she said, as she gestured to the name of the candle. “As a joke. But then I was like, wouldn’t that be cool if somebody actually had the guts to do that?”
She continued, “What a punk rock feminist statement to have that on your table. And then he made it. I thought he just made me one, as a joke, but then the next thing I knew, it was on my website.”
“So they didn’t do any testing or anything like that?” Kimmel joked. “Because it smells nice. It smells a little bit masculine actually. Kinda woody, I don’t know.”
“Well, it’s not really supposed to smell like a vagina,” she explained. “You know, I think a lot of women have grown up with a certain degree of shame or embarrassment around this part. So we’re kind of like, yo!”
When asked whether there would be a candle for men, Paltrow told the story of a Canadian candle company that made one called This Smells Like My Balls and said, “It was 25% more expensive than this because of the wage gap.”
Apparently, Elton John bought up a bunch of the Goop version, but they’re back in stock after selling out, if you’d like one of your own.
Watch the full interview with Paltrow below.
