Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed that her infamous “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle began as an offhand joke she never expected to become a product.
The Oscar winner, 52, shared the backstory on Tuesday’s episode of the “Friends Keep Secrets” podcast, explaining that she was working with creative director Douglas Little on what she described as an “earthy” fragrance for her lifestyle brand, Goop. “I like things that smell kind of unusual,” Paltrow said. “I like woodsy, leathery. Our first perfume is called Church; it’s incensy.”
The two were sorting through tomato leaves and seaweed when Paltrow encountered a scent that caught her attention. “So I have a very bodily sense of humor, and nobody really knows that side of me,” she said. “And I said to him, ‘Well, this one smells like my vagina.’ As a joke.”
Little failed to recognize the humor. “So he thought I was serious, and made a candle called ‘This Smells Like My Vagina,’ and my team bought the candle,” Paltrow explained. “I thought I was joking and, anyway, the rest is history.”
The $75 candle, which contained scents of citrusy bergamot, geranium, Damask rose, cedar absolutes and ambrette seed, debuted in 2020 and was discontinued three years later. “It definitely did not smell like my vagina,” Paltrow noted on the podcast.
The product’s notoriety ultimately worked against the brand. “It became such a big thing that we actually stopped selling it because it was distracting people from what we were doing,” she said.
Demand has persisted even after the candle left shelves. Podcast co-host Benny Blanco shared that he spent $600 to acquire one from a reseller. “We should make it again,” Paltrow quipped in response.
The “Shakespeare in Love” star had previously defended the candle during an interview at the 2025 Mindvalley Manifesting Summit. “I kept it on the site because there is an aspect to women’s sexuality that I think we’re socialized to feel a lot of shame,” she said. “And I sort of loved this kind of punk-rock idea, ‘We are beautiful and we are awesome and go f–k yourself.'”
The candle became one of several provocative scents Paltrow introduced through Goop. She later launched “This Smells Like My Orgasm” and “This Smells Like My Prenup,” extending the irreverent branding that had made the original product a cultural flashpoint.
The original vagina candle generated widespread media coverage and online debate when it first appeared, with some critics dismissing it as a publicity stunt and others praising its confrontational approach to female sexuality. The product sold out repeatedly during its three-year run before Goop pulled it from inventory.
Paltrow has continued to expand Goop’s reach since the candle’s discontinuation, though the podcast appearance marked one of her most candid discussions about how the viral product came to exist.
The “Iron Man” actress is scheduled to appear next at the Goop summit in New York.