Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop sued after man ‘engulfed’ in vagina-scented flames
Gwyneth Paltrow sells a candle named ‘This Smells Like My Vagina’. (Getty)
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop is being sued by a Texas man who wants a jury trial after his “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle allegedly “exploded” in his bedroom.
Paltrow’s controversial brand Goop famously released a candle named “This Smells Like My Vagina” in January 2020, charging customers £69 for the pleasure of having their homes smell like “geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and ambrette seed to put us in mind of fantasy, seduction, and a sophisticated warmth”.
But Colby Watson, who filed a class action lawsuit in the US District Court for the Central District of California this week, claims that his candle “exploded” and his bedstand “engulfed” in vagina-scented flames just three hours after he lit it on 6 February, 2021.
The incident, he said, could have cost him his life.
Fortunately, he was uninjured and despite the “explosion”, the candle’s glass jar remained intact.
According to the complaint, Watson filed the class action suit “on behalf of himself and other purchasers of the candle”, and is calling for compensation for “owners of the candle who, through no fault of their own, purchased defective and dangerous vagina-scented candles”.
A warning on the “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle states that it should not be left to burn for more than two hours at a time, but Watson insists that the candles are “inherently dangerous” and that Goop “knew that the candles were defective”.
The complaint claims that Watson and other candle purchasers have “experienced and/or will experience significant damages, including but not limited to mental anguish and/or physical injuries, loss of the use of their candles, time spent seeking to have their candles replaced, and money lost on the purchase of new, safe candles”.
Watson has requested a trial with a jury, and is seeking damages and triple compensation.
Goop said in a statement: “We’re confident this claim is frivolous and an attempt to secure an outsized payout from a press-heavy product.
“We stand behind the brands we carry and the safety of the products we sell.
“Here, Heretic — the brand that supplies the candle — has substantiated the product’s performance and safety through industry-standard testing.”
Earlier this year, Paltrow’s “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle exploded in a British woman’s living room, causing vagina-scented “inferno”.
Sharing a photo of the charred remains of her vagina candle online, Jody Thompson, who was also uninjured, wrote: “Yeah, thanks Gwynnie, stuff your flaming vagina.”
