Coming off the release of The Lost Daughter earlier this month, Dakota Johnson is returning her focus to other ventures. The actress best known for her role in the Fifty Shades series recently became a brand ambassador for Gucci, but her sense of fashion extends beyond clothes.
In a profile with Elle UK, Johnson talked about how she got involved making sex toys with an upstart company looking to change the industry.
Maude is a sexual-wellness brand, which is a fancy way of saying a company that makes sex toys. Like, really pretty ones you’ll want to leave out on your nightstand (or coffee table if their advertisements are any indication). Founded by Éva Goicochea, Maude even has a hot new winter collection.
Johnson joined the company in 2020 as an investor, and shares how she was won over by Goicochea’s perspective on sexual wellbeing. “This is exactly how I think about this – which is to say that products should be inclusive and straightforward, clean and approachable,” she thought after meeting the founder.
And it wasn’t all business talk. She even paused to point out and laugh at an inadvertent a pun.
If you love having a giant pink dildo, all power to you. That’s not my vibe – ha! Vibe. But I think it’s healthy to have access to quality sexual-wellness products.
Now as a co-creative director, Johnson is involved in making all of the company’s products, which include virbators, condoms, lubricants, and body wash. She jokingly recalled a new product she helped launch:
I’m just remembering thatI [sic] had a dream about our butt plug last night. We were looking at the [prototypes], and one was too big. … and I was like, “No one’s going to be able to fit that in their butt!”
Earlier this month, Johnson even told InStyle the plug is “the perfect stocking stuffer.”
Although, she didn’t say whether or not that pun was intended.
