There was a time when ‘wellness’ simply meant not being ill. Today, it’s not just a buzzword, it’s a £1.4 trillion industry (according to McKinsey) covering everything from fitness and diet to supplements and mental health.
And with so much money to be made, is it any wonder celebrities are falling over themselves to make a pretty healthy sum?
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has her ‘soothing’ herbal teas and ‘grounding’ scented candles in her As Ever range, as well as investing in Clevr Blends, a wellness outfit that sells ‘healthy’ coffee infused with ingredients such as functional mushrooms and probiotics. Meanwhile, WAG Coleen Rooney has her own range of collagen supplements and, this January, former Strictly presenter Tess Daly unveiled her line of activewear.
So, in order of wealthiness, these are the biggest female players in the wellness industry and their estimated worth.
1. Kayla Itsines, 34
Wellness Wealth: £88million
An Australian personal trainer turned entrepreneur, Itsines devised the Bikini Body Guide 12-week programme in 2014 that went viral (it was later rebranded as the more politically correct High Intensity Strength programme). A year later it led to her setting up Sweat, a female fitness app that features work outs, recipes and healthy lifestyle tips.
To date, the app has over 30million downloads. It turned her into one of Australia’s wealthiest businesswomen under 40, with an estimated fortune of £88million from her own empire and a lucrative endorsement deal with Apple Watches. She has 43million followers across all her social media platforms, where she details her enviable body and healthy, Aussie lifestyle.
2. Gwyneth Paltrow, 53
Wellness Wealth: £56million
One of the first to jump aboard the woo-woo wellness wagon, the Shakespeare In Love actress turned wellness guru launched Goop in 2008, before any of us had any idea what mindfulness or macrobiotics were.
What started as a weekly newsletter has now become a global empire valued at £185million, with CEO Gwynnie owning a 30 per cent stake.
She has an estimated personal fortune of £148million, with over a third coming from Goop. Today, the platform sells everything from a £30 orgasm balm (for women only and what it sounds like: you apply it ‘before play’ and its ‘silky, oil-based’ botanical ingredients ‘heighten sensation’) to £500 sauna blankets.
Goop has attracted widespread criticism and in 2018 was fined £112,000 for wrongly claiming that jade eggs inserted into the vagina can balance hormones. But such quackery hasn’t stopped the business booming. As well as its website, Goop has spawned a Netflix series, pop-up shops and even a themed cruise.
3. Kate Hudson, 46
Wellness Wealth: £40million
The actress daughter of Goldie Hawn is tipped to get an Oscar nomination for her latest role in the movie Song Sung Blue, but it’s the wellness industry that’s bringing her in the big bucks.
In 2013, the yoga and gym bunny founded the athleisure company Fabletics selling stylish activewear. Business magazine Forbes valued the company at £186million and it currently achieves worldwide sales of around £630million.
Hudson has a 20 per cent stake, putting her Fabletics fortune at around £39million. In addition to sportswear, she also co-founded supplement brand InBloom in 2020, sold online and in Whole Foods. The brand currently achieves sales of around £8million a year, boosting her wellness income by a further million.
4. Maxine Laceby, 59, and Darcy Laceby, 28
Wellness Wealth: £34million
Collagen supplements are everywhere now, with celebrities crediting them (and not Botox and fillers) for their youthful looks.
British businesswoman Maxine Laceby was one of the first to cash in on the collagen goldrush after brewing her own bone broth at home and noticing the positive effect it had on her skin. It inspired her to launch Absolute Collagen in 2017 – co-founded with her daughter Darcy – now the bestselling brand in the country and stocked by Amazon and Boots as well as being sold via the firm’s online subscription service.
The company is reported to shift over £30million worth of product a year and is valued at £45million.
5. Nicola Elliott, 48
Wellness Wealth: £25million
The British former magazine journalist founded her wellness company NEOM Wellbeing 21 years ago after training as an aromatherapist on the side.
The brand is famous for its essential oils and ‘wellness pods’ – little portable gizmos that release soothing, smelly vapours into the air to target everything from stress and insomnia to low energy. Based in Harrogate, the company sells around the world and has a flagship store in New York. It’s now valued at around £80million.
6. Ella Mills, 34
Wellness Wealth: £24million
Starting out as a food blogger, Ella went on to become one of the leading figures in the ‘clean eating’ movement. Nothing makes this scion of the Sainsbury family (as in, the founders of Sainsbury’s supermarket) madder than being branded a ‘nepo baby’, though. She launched her Deliciously Ella blog in 2012, focusing on plant-based food, which went on to spawn cookbooks, a recipe app and then a range of foods – the most famous being her ‘energy balls’, selling over 100million products worldwide.
She recently wrote an editorial for the London Standard stating that she fears the wellness market has become overcrowded. Perhaps that’s why, in 2024, she sold her Deliciously Ella brand for the reportedly tasty sum of £70million to the Swiss Hero Group, a sale that’s estimated to have netted her £24million. She is now focusing on All Plants, a range of vegan ready-meals sold online as well as by Waitrose and Ocado.
7. Kourtney Kardashian, 46
Wellness Wealth: £15million
Not as famous as younger sister Kim and not as rich as half-sister Kylie Jenner, yet Kourtney is the member of the famous reality TV clan who’s raking in the most wellness wonga.
In 2019, she decided she wanted a piece of the Goop action and launched online wellness and lifestyle brand Poosh – her daughter Penelope’s nickname (by complete coincidence Goop was Gwyneth Paltrow’s childhood nickname).
The site generates revenue from its online shop, brand partnerships and affiliations. The company is valued at around £12million, with the slogan ‘it’s not woo woo, it’s just wow’. One of their best-selling products is a £372 heated ‘energy mat’ containing black tourmaline and quartz, which claims to ‘melt away tension’.
In 2022, she launched Lemme, selling a range of vitamins, including one especially for people on fat jabs. Lemme is reported to have reached £22million in sales in its first 16 months of trading.
Her endorsement deals with wellness companies include Manuka Doctor and Fit Tea. Today, a sizable slice of her £45million fortune comes from wellness.
8. Serena Williams, 44
Wellness Wealth: £14million
The woman who won 23 Grand Slam tennis titles has proven herself to be a big hitter in the business world, particularly when it comes to investing her millions in wellness brands.
With a personal fortune of £330million, Meghan’s bestie started her own venture capital firm Serena Ventures in 2014 with a special interest in health and wellness. To date, she has invested in 14 ‘unicorn businesses’ (those now valued in excess of $1billion – around £868million).
They include Noom, a wellness and weight management app, Tonal (a home fitness system) and Impossible Foods, selling plant-based meat alternatives. She’s also a brand ambassador for GLP-1 weight-loss company Ro. And although she doesn’t hold a stake, her husband Alexis Ohanian does. He, of course, is co-founder of the social media site Reddit.
9. Mel Robbins, 57
Wellness Wealth: £13million
Born in Kansas City, the business leader began her career in law, working as a public defender in New York. Her move into wellness, with personal growth a speciality, came in 2018 when a TED talk she gave called ‘How To Stop Screwing Yourself Over’ went viral, achieving 34million YouTube views. It was here that she introduced her signature 5 Second Rule – a self-help tool to overcome hesitation.
Robbins has written six self-help books, with her most recent The Let Them Theory (a mindset technique to focus more on your own feelings than other people’s opinions) selling eight million copies.
The Mel Robbins Podcast has become a global phenomenon, and is the most followed in the world with 37million monthly downloads. On every episode she teams up with experts to offer advice on everything from anxiety and exercise to relationships and weight loss.
10. Jennifer Aniston, 56
Wellness Wealth: £12million
The former Friends star has a personal fortune of £239million. Her popularity (she has 45million Instagram followers) and healthy Californian lifestyle make her the perfect target for wellness brand collaborations.
As well as an ongoing deal with bottled water brand Smartwater, reportedly worth £3million, she is the chief creative officer at Vital Proteins, another collagen start-up, now owned by Nestle.
Her biggest wellness success, however, comes as an investor and partner in Pvolve, a resistance exercise system. As the face (and incredible abs) of the company, it’s become one of the fastest-growing fitness brands in the world, with an annual revenue estimated at £37million – up 225 per cent since Aniston came on board in 2023. Although it’s not known how big a share she owns, a typical 20 per cent stake would be worth £7.4million.
And to crown her wellness credentials, her new boyfriend Jim Curtis is a hypnotherapist.
11. Elle Macpherson, 61
Wellness Wealth: £12million
Nicknamed The Body, Aussie Elle has always been savvy when it comes to monetising her supermodel success via fitness DVDs and a lingerie range.
Then in 2014, ‘before wellness was fashionable’, according to her, she launched WelleCo, a supplement brand now famous for its ‘super elixir’, which it claims will energise the body, get skin glowing and improve gut health.
The brand, sold in Harvey Nichols in the UK, is reported to have experienced a 55 per cent growth last year, achieving around £6million a year in sales with the company valued at around £35million. With Elle thought to own a 25 per cent stake, it means The Body also has a sharp business brain, too.
12. Amanda Chantal Bacon, 42
Wellness Wealth: £8.2million
Not many people can ‘out-woo’ Gwyneth, but Amanda is one of them. An entrepreneur and wellness influencer, she founded the brand Moon Juice in 2012, after claiming her green juice habit changed her life and cured her autoimmune condition.
Living an alternative lifestyle in LA, in 2015 she went viral after detailing her day in the life for Elle magazine, which many believed had to be a parody.
She described rising at 6.30am to do Kundalini meditation, followed by ‘breath work’ and drinking antioxidant-rich silver needle tea from a copper cup, through to fermenting her own yoghurt and brewing seaweed and mushroom broths for her toddler. Widely ridiculed, it proved a huge boost for the business.
She started off with a juice stall and today has added everything from plant-based skincare to supplements and healthy snacks. Perhaps her best-known product is her ‘sex dust’ – a £28 powder that you sprinkle on your morning cereal to boost libido. It sold out when Gwyneth Paltrow raved about its powers on Goop.
Today, her range is sold around the world and generates around £18million a year.