diff --git a/seaborn/_stats/density.py b/seaborn/_stats/density.py
index 733601c2e9..4af8596aee 100644
--- a/seaborn/_stats/density.py
+++ b/seaborn/_stats/density.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     from scipy.stats import gaussian_kde
     _no_scipy = False
 except ImportError:
-    from .external.kde import gaussian_kde
+    from seaborn.external.kde import gaussian_kde
     _no_scipy = True
 
 from seaborn._core.groupby import GroupBy