Gwyneth Paltrow’s Bold Take on Goop’s Vagina Candle: “Go F— Yourself”
Gwyneth Paltrow stands firm in support of one of her most debated Goop product innovations: the “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle.
Questioned about the product, which debuted on her lifestyle website in 2020, during her appearance at the 2025 Mindvalley Manifesting Summit in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 17, Paltrow responded to the backlash it received.
“You know, that product is so intriguing,” the 52-year-old actress expressed, as captured in an Instagram video released by the summit’s official account on Sunday, May 18. “It took us a long time to move past that one, but I kept it on the site because there’s a part of women’s sexuality that I believe … we’re taught to feel a lot of shame. And I kind of loved this punk-rock concept.”
Paltrow concluded, “We are beautiful and we are amazing, and go f*** yourself.”
The product, which led to the release of a 2022 spinoff candle titled “Hands Off My Vagina,” emphasizing reproductive freedom, was initially created to empower the website’s female audience.
Paltrow told Us Weekly in September 2020, “You grew up receiving messages about feminine care that were full of synthetic scents and all of that. I just thought it was time to make a feminist statement about embracing who we are and our femininity.”
She added at the time, “I feel like once people get over the initial shock and begin to explore what it really means, it’s quite impressive.”
Paltrow’s weekend discussion also revisited the product’s origin, with the Shakespeare in Love actress sharing, “We were experimenting with different scents one day, and I smelled something and thought, ‘Oh, that smells like …,’ you know,” she explained.
“I was joking. And then [Douglas Little, Heretic perfumer and Goop collaborator] suggested, ‘Oh, we should turn that into a candle and list it on the site,’” Paltrow elaborated.
Paltrow has consistently challenged societal norms, recently revealing that her two children, daughter Apple, 21, and son, Moses, 19, appreciate their upbringing. (Paltrow shares both kids with ex-husband Chris Martin; she married Brad Falchuk in 2018.)
“They are very proud of the unconventional approach we’ve taken over the years,” Paltrow told E! News in an article published on May 12. “Looking back, there were always topics we covered [at Goop] that had people saying, ‘What on earth is this?’ And now they’re so mainstream. My kids take pride in the fact that we’ve always been pioneers in this area.”
