Adelaide fitness queen Kayla Itsines reveals she has ADHD

The Adelaide fitness mogul has revealed a major health diagnosis – but says the condition has played a big role in her global empire.

Adelaide personal trainer Kayla Itsines says having ADHD helped her build her multimillion-dollar fitness empire.

Itsines has revealed she’s been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a condition which affects about one in 20 Australians according to ADHD Australia.

The fitness mogul said she had “no idea” she had the condition but now believes it’s been integral to her success.

“I think ADHD is actually a superpower. I think without having it, I wouldn’t have been able to build Sweat,” she said on her podcast, Sweat Daily with Kayla Itsines.

“I wouldn’t have found my amazing community. I wouldn’t have been able to help millions of women on their fitness journey.”

Itsines co-founded the Sweat fitness app with ex-fiance Tobi Pearce in 2015, eventually selling the business in 2021 for $US150m ($A228m).

They took back control of the digital fitness empire in November 2023, acquiring the brand from iFIT for an undisclosed sum.

Now based in Queensland, Itsines said she was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago, after seeing a therapist who saw some of the signs during their sessions.

Kayla Itsines has revealed she has ADHD. Picture: Matt Turner.

The mother-of-two said knowing she has ADHD has made her a “better, happier person”.

“Despite how much it’s in the news and how much it’s on TikTok and my own diagnosis, I don’t really understand it. In fact, I had no idea that I even had it,” Itsines said on her podcast.

“I feel like self-knowledge, knowing the different parts of you and how they shape you is how you build the life that you want.”

Itsines described how ADHD is a part of her every day persona, as someone who is “super passionate and super focused”.

“I can channel that hyper focus into something for hours. I become a perfectionist at everything that I do. But I’m also the kind of person who has 40 tabs open in my brain, and I can never close any of them,” she said.

“I am someone who is very good at reading people’s body language. So when I walk into a room, I feel like I know what everyone’s thinking. I can read a room very fast.

“I’m terrible, terrible at leaving things around the house. I completely forget that I’ve left them there. I cannot remember anything unless I write it down. I will obsessively clean things. My shower routine, my night-time routines, they have to be perfect. But that’s just not what you think of when you think of ADHD.”

Kayla Itsines tied the knot to Jae Woodroffe in 2023. Picture: Christina Toulantas

Itsines says she doesn’t believe she’d have built her Sweat empire if she didn’t have ADHD. Picture Matt Turner.

Itsines joins a long list of celebrities who have revealed they have ADHD, from high-profile Australian women such as Em Rusciano, Abbie Chatfield and Mia Freedman, to global names such as Emma Watson, Channing Tatum, Paris Hilton and Justin Bieber.

Traditionally, boys have been more likely to be diagnosed because they displayed obvious symptoms like fidgeting, disruptive behaviour or outbursts.

It is now understood that girls may show different symptoms, such as being overly talkative or emotionally reactive.

Under-diagnosis of girls is one factor thought to be driving a wave of adult women receiving late diagnoses as awareness grows about the spectrum of symptoms and how these look in adulthood.