A $50-million fitness empire by 32: Inside Tammy Hembrow’s next chapter

On the day we speak, fitness entrepreneur Tammy Hembrow is sitting inside her car on Main Beach on the Gold Coast watching her three children, all under 12, use the nearby playground equipment.

For someone who was told falling pregnant as a 20-year-old would be the end of life as she knew it, Hembrow, 32, is having the last laugh. “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 reflects. “Everyone really got in my head about it, but I was determined to prove them wrong.”

Indeed, her life took a stratospheric turn after she had her first child – just not in the way many imagined. During those early post-pregnancy months, she turned to social media to document her personal fitness journey and physical recovery. That candid sharing resonated with millions and set her on an extraordinary path towards success.

“In the beginning I was documenting my life and working out; health and fitness was very much a huge part of that,” she recalls. “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.”

Today, Hembrow boasts more than 16.2 million followers on Instagram alone. Last year, having built a $50 million fitness empire over the course of a decade – including her first business, Tammy Fit, launched in 2017 – she was named in the prestigious AFR Young Rich List.

That discipline and inner drive to succeed might be deeply embedded in her DNA. “I’ve always been very stubborn, ever since I was very young,” she says. “I was never content with no. I always wanted to do things my way.”

But with fame came relentless headlines and intense public scrutiny. A deep dive into the world of Hembrow shows an almost constant obsession around her, spanning from the time she was taken out on an ambulance stretcher from Kylie Jenner’s 21st birthday in West Hollywood back in 2018 to her evolving relationship status. While the surrounding media circus can feel endless, Hembrow says she’s learned to take little notice of the haters and headlines nowadays.