When news broke last week that Justin Bieber’s wife Hailey had sold her cosmetics brand Rhode for a staggering $1 billion (£740 million), it set shockwaves through Hollywood.
After all, this is a woman who, until she became romantically linked with the troubled Canadian pop star, barely registered on the radar of anyone in Los Angeles celebrity circles, let alone the wider world.
Now, thanks to her remarkable deal with e.l.f. Beauty, the 28-year-old has, rather improbably, become richer than her husband of almost seven years, whose hits such as Baby have earned him a ‘mere’ £170 million fortune. So how has she done it?
The Mail on Sunday has spoken to friends of Hailey, who say her drive to succeed was forged early on because of her insecurities as a ‘lesser Baldwin’, being the daughter of actor Stephen, the youngest of the Baldwin brothers. This drove her to form alliances with the Kardashian clan before ‘hitting the jackpot’.
Hailey Bieber has sold her cosmetics brand, Rhode, for $1 billion. Pictured with her husband, Justin, last year
Celebrity photographer Giles Harrison has followed Hailey since 2018 when her relationship with Justin became serious after his messy split from childhood sweetheart Selena Gomez – who has herself become a cosmetics billionaire via her Rare Beauty brand.
He said: ‘Honestly, no one saw this coming. No one knew who Hailey was until she came out of nowhere and started dating Justin. Then it was all systems go.
‘She and Justin got engaged and married within a couple of months and she was suddenly catapulted into the spotlight. To go from zero to a billionaire in seven years is incredible by anyone’s standards.’
A jaw-dropping $800 million (almost £600 million) in cash and stocks is being paid by e.l.f. as soon as the sale is finalised, with another $200 million (£150 million) in a profit share scheme over the next three years. Hailey will keep a hand in her former company, too, as Rhode’s chief creative officer and head of innovation.
Following the news, her social media was deluged with support from friends including fellow cosmetics kingpin Kylie Jenner who wrote: ‘I could cry, love you sm [so much]’, adding a string of heart emojis. Kylie’s half-sister Kim Kardashian added: ‘OK! OK! Yessss Hailey!!!’
While husband Justin acknowledged his wife’s stunning accomplishment – sharing with his 294 million Instagram followers a picture of Hailey looking business-like in a cream suit leaning over a desk – the sale has done nothing to quell persistent rumours that not all is well in the Bieber household.
Indeed the word around Hollywood is that this mega-deal might put even more pressure on a relationship which is, allegedly, under enormous strain.
There have been photographs of a bedraggled-looking Justin leaving massage parlours and looking painfully thin. And the singer has been open in the past about his struggles including addiction and depression. Earlier this month the 31-year-old acknowledged he is ‘just an average flawed guy’ and ‘I continue to do and say things that hurt others unintentionally’.
Hailey is now believed to be more wealthy than her singer husband
While the couple – who have a nine-month-old son, Jack Blues – have vehemently and consistently denied their marriage is in trouble, Justin was forced to issue a hasty apology after ‘accidentally’ unfollowing his wife on Instagram recently.
He made another grovelling apology for telling Hailey – this month’s American Vogue cover girl – that she would ‘never’ be on the front of the famed fashion bible. He posted online: ‘This reminds me when Hailey and I got into a huge fight. I told Hails that she would never be on the cover of Vogue. Yikes, I know, so mean. For some reason, because I felt so disrespected, I thought I gotta get even. So, baby, you already know, but forgive me for saying u wouldn’t get a Vogue cover cuz I was sadly mistaken.’
Back then, Justin clearly felt that his was the star that lit their relationship. But how about now?
Many in Hollywood have compared the changing power dynamic in the Bieber marriage with that of Prince Harry and Meghan.
Eric Schiffer, of Reputation Management Consultants, says: ‘When the balance of power shifts dramatically like this, it can throw a romantic relationship off its axis.
‘It’s impossible not to compare the Biebers with the Sussexes. In both cases the wives are out-earning and out-succeeding the husbands. That spells trouble in a marriage.’ Why? Because, as Schiffer says: ‘Men have notoriously fragile egos, and when a wife is suddenly publicly outshining them – as is the case with both Justin and Harry – that causes resentment.’
There have been photographs of a bedraggled-looking Justin leaving massage parlours and looking painfully thin. Pictured in February
Another source – an agent who worked with Justin soon after he was brought to Hollywood, having been spotted singing on YouTube at the age of just 12 – told the MoS ‘financial imbalance’ in a marriage raises red flags.
Justin sold much of his back catalogue of hits for $200 million in December 2022. It was never made clear why, but reports he was in debt to his former manager were robustly denied. The agent says: ‘The word at the time was that Justin, like many young stars who achieve fame and money early, overspent. He’s certainly not broke, but there is a big difference between his $200 million and her $1 billion.
‘You see the same with Meghan and Harry. She’s flourishing with her product line, podcast and TV show, while Harry appears directionless. What does he do all day?’
Hailey’s success in a town where the spouses of celebrities are often dismissed as ‘an other’ is a far cry from the late 2010s when I saw her struggle to get into a nightclub.
The door staff at the Key club on Sunset Boulevard would not let her enter until Kylie Jenner arrived, and the red ropes parted.
Indeed, it is said, Hailey ‘latched on to’ the Kardashians as well as Paris Hilton ‘and learned at their knees’.
An entrepreneur who helped Kylie launch her eponymous line told the MoS: ‘In the beginning you had genuine A-listers like Gwyneth Paltrow [who owned lifestyle website Goop] and Jessica Alba [baby and beauty brand The Honest Company] who parlayed their fame and followers into lucrative businesses. But Kim Kardashian took it to a whole new level.’
Her rise was as meteoric as Hailey’s. When I first met Kim, she was Paris Hilton’s stylist. Following the leak of a sex tape Kim had made a few years before, and with no small help from her ‘momager’ Kris Jenner, she soon stepped out of Paris’s shadow and was on her way to making her first billion.
Insiders say Hailey ‘latched on to’ the Kardashians and ‘learned at their knees’. Pictured with reality star Kim Kardashian last year
Paris herself was also once perceived as a ‘joke’, falling out of nightclubs in the 1990s and being pictured with fellow It-girls Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie.
This month, Paris launched a skincare range Parívie, adding to her online shopping empire, in which she sells everything from perfume to dog accessories.
The MoS has been told she is the next A-lister eyeing up a mega-money buy-out. A source close to Paris said: ‘Everyone thought these girls were jokes. But the last laugh is on them. Kim Kardashian was the first to take no discernible talent and monetise it by becoming a social media personality. She helped her sisters and the Hadids [models Bella and Gigi] and then Hailey. They follow the same master plan.’
Still, it helps being the daughter of a Hollywood star, even if Hailey’s father is the ‘lesser Baldwin’. Stephen’s big break came in 1995’s The Usual Suspects but his career faded thanks to a string of forgettable flops. Hailey is his youngest daughter with graphic designer Kennya Deodato.
She was born Hailey Rhode in 1996, later lending her middle name to her cosmetics firm.
The family remained out of the spotlight aside from a few red carpet appearances at ‘Uncle Alec’s’ movie premieres, where a bashful, mousey Hailey appeared, often clutching her mother’s arm.
Photographer Harrison said: ‘She rarely said anything . . . no one cared about her.’
Hailey spoke about her childhood to People magazine saying: ‘I don’t really think I was ever famous. I knew my father was an actor and he was famous to an extent, but if I was to compare how I grew up to how Justin did, he’s had a way crazier “famous” experience really young. I got to grow up . . . and be normal.’
Hailey, left, with her father, actor Stephen Baldwin and her older sister, Alaia Baldwin, in 2004
Haily has said she and her husband, both pictured in 2020, had very different childhoods
Justin and Hailey first met backstage at a breakfast TV show in New York when she was 12 and he was 15 and appearing on the show.
‘She met him as a fan experience,’ someone familiar with that early encounter explained. ‘It was a “meet-and-greet” with Justin.’
The pair reconnected at Hillsong Church in LA in 2015. The controversial youth church was a hit with celebrities until it came tumbling down in 2020 when it emerged the married pastor had been having an affair.
A source who went to the church said: ‘Back then Justin was triple A-list. I barely remember Hailey, except she was sweet and kind and would bring cakes. She was pretty. She’d grown her hair out, had been working out and had an amazing body and the most perfect skin.
‘Justin was with Selena back then but they were on and off the whole time.’
In January 2016, Justin posted a picture on Instagram which showed him kissing Hailey and appeared to confirm that they were dating. Hailey later said they were ‘not exclusive’.
According to the official version of events, Justin and Selena broke up for the final time in March 2018. In June, Justin and Hailey were officially reunited.
Nor did they waste any time in getting engaged (that July) and married (September). They had a New York courthouse wedding followed by a more traditional affair in South Carolina the following year, with guests including Hailey’s new circle of influencer friends including Kendall and Kylie Jenner, the Hadids and Paris Hilton.
One person familiar with the romance says it was Justin ‘who fell hard and fast’ and insisted on getting married.
Hailey ‘was used to having her own life,’ her girlfriend said. ‘She’d been doing a bit of modelling, a bit of acting, you know, the sort of stuff everyone in LA does.
‘When she married Justin she was suddenly half of a celebrity power couple. I think it was a bit rough for her at the beginning but she’s no dummy. She was always determined to do her own thing, and that’s where Rhode came in.’
Hailey launched the brand in 2022, initially as a skincare line, which has since expanded to include make-up.
Reputation manager Schiffer said: ‘Hailey had a built-in audience. She has 55 million social media followers and most of those joined after she married Justin.
‘I take nothing away from her. To build a brand like she has in three years is astonishing.
‘She’s relatable. She might be married to a megastar but she goes on Instagram, shows her skincare routine and admits when she has a zit. Young women feel she’s their friend, and that translates into sales.’
That relatability was on full show in a recent video, filmed with Vogue magazine, in which she reveals the contents of her handbag. Out came mundane items like hand cream, followed by a joke perfume labelled ‘Eau d’Nepo’ – a self-deprecating reference to her ‘nepo baby’ roots as the child of a famous family.
The self-mockery continues as she pulls out books by philosophers Kant and Nietzsche, as well as an empty notebook, which she says is ‘filled with all my thoughts’.
She ends the skit with a tincture bottle that she says is a ‘magical love potion’ given to her by a witch. ‘She told me that it would make a young Canadian pop star fall in love with me,’ she deadpans. ‘Been taking this one for years.’
And, my, hasn’t it paid off.
