Tammy Hembrow, the Gold Coast fitness entrepreneur who built an estimated $50 million business empire over a decade, has reflected on her rise from documenting her post-pregnancy fitness journey to landing on the AFR Young Rich List last year.
Speaking from her car at Main Beach on the Gold Coast while watching her three children, all under 12, at a nearby playground, Hembrow said she was determined to prove wrong those who told her that falling pregnant at 20 would ruin her life and body.
“I had a lot of people telling me when I first fell pregnant that it would ruin my life, ruin my body, and affect me in so many ways,” she said. “Everyone really got in my head about it, but I was determined to prove them wrong.”
In the months after her first child, Hembrow began documenting her fitness journey and recovery on social media. The candid posts attracted a large audience, she said, particularly other young mothers.
“In the beginning I was documenting my life and working out; health and fitness was very much a huge part of that,” she recalled. “It attracted a lot of people who saw themselves in me – and there were a lot of negative connotations about young mums: this view that it ruins everything. I was all about showing people that it really doesn’t – and you can reclaim yourself and still be you.”
Hembrow now has more than 16.2 million followers on Instagram alone. Her first business, Tammy Fit, launched in 2017, and last year she was named on the AFR Young Rich List with the business valued at $50 million.
She describes herself as stubborn and unwilling to accept “no” as an answer. “I’ve always been very stubborn, ever since I was very young,” she said. “I was never content with no. I always wanted to do things my way.”
Fame has come with constant headlines and scrutiny, from being taken out on an ambulance stretcher from Kylie Jenner’s 21st birthday in West Hollywood in 2018 to her high-profile relationships. Hembrow said she has learned to ignore the trolls and headlines. Her current partner is 23-year-old model Grayson Te Moana, nine years her junior, with whom she says she has “never been happier”.
“I’ve had trolls since day one – that is nothing new to me and I continue to have them,” she said. “I’ve had a couple of very public relationships and they’ve been picked apart, but I am in a good relationship now. I learned a lot from each of them, and am now at a point where I know what I want. I’m really happy with the people in my life and what I have going on and my partner is a wonderful addition to that.”