A Texas man is suing Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Inc. over a $75 candle called This Smells Like My Vagina, which he said “exploded” in his bedroom.
The class action complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeks payment to people who have, “through no fault of their own, purchased defective and dangerous vagina-scented candles.”
Plaintiff Colby Watson says he bought the candle on Jan. 14, 2021, through the website of Goop, a Santa Monica-based retailer of beauty and home products. On Feb. 6, he lit the candle on his bedroom nightstand.
Around three hours later, he said, he found that it had become “engulfed in high flames.” The room filled with smoke and a black ring was left on the nightstand, he said.
The complaint repeatedly uses the word “explode,” but the candle’s jar reportedly remained intact, though charred.
The previous month, a British woman made tabloid headlines with a claim of a similar failure of the vagina candle. Jody Thompson, 50, of North London, described the scene in her home: “Flames roared half a metre out of the jar and bits of molten wax flew out as it fizzed and spat.”
Nobody was injured in either incident.
A warning on the candle advises users not to burn it for more than two hours at a time.
The vagina candle, which was introduced in 2020, remains on Goop’s website, though it is currently sold out. A smaller, votive-size version sells for $20. Goop also sells candles called This Smells Like My Orgasm and This Smells Like My Prenup.
The complaint alleges “Defendant knew that the candles were defective” and says Watson and others in the class action “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.”
It requests a jury trial and seeks triple compensation as well as punitive damages.
Goop issued a statement Tuesday that said, in part: “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.”
The candle complaint is not the first time Goop has been sued over a vagina-related product. The company in 2018 settled a lawsuit filed with the Santa Clara County district attorney over medical claims it made about $66 jade and quartz eggs intended to be put in one’s vagina. The settlement included refunds to purchasers.
