Adelaide bikini queen Kayla Itsines opens up on life, love and her multimillion dollar fitness empire
SHE has the world at her feet but fitness queen Kayla Itsines likes nothing better than hanging with her big Greek family and keeping house at the Adelaide beachside home she shares with her boyfriend.
SHE has the world at her feet but fitness queen Kayla Itsines is a woman who likes nothing better than hanging with her big Greek family and keeping house at the Adelaide beachside home she shares with boyfriend and business partner Tobias Pearce.
And she looks forward to the day when Pearce pops the question and puts a ring on her finger.
The surprising fact that Pearce, 25, has yet to propose to the indispensable face of the multi-million dollar business the couple has built together in less than four years is revealed in an interview with SAWeekend today.
Asked if she planned to marry, Itsines replied: “Hopefully one day. If he asks me one day. That hasn’t happened yet. We’re boyfriend and girlfriend. If that (the proposal) happens, then yes. Until then.....”
She has built a fervent online following of 15 million women worldwide, and has a place on this year’s BRW Young Rich List.
She also keeps house. “I’m Greek, I’m always cleaning,” Itsines said.
And cooking, and washing and folding her boyfriend’s clothes.
Last week, the couple added to their suite of products a glossy, 400-page book of meal plans and recipes, The Bikini Body 28-Day Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Guide, which is expected to be among the top-selling health books of the year.
It joins the Sweat With Kayla smartphone app, released late last year and reported to be one of the top-rating, and highest-grossing, fitness apps worldwide.
At $19.99, it’s a more technically advanced version of their original PDF download and e-book Bikini Body Guides.
The book’s publisher, Ingrid Ohlsson, head of nonfiction at Pan Macmillan Australia, attributes Itsines’s extraordinary success to the fact that “what you see is what you get”, and that she still personally trains a handful of clients and staff.
“When I’ve met with Kayla, how she is in person is how she is online,” said Ms Ohlsson.
“And, in my opinion, that is the secret to her success. I’ve watched a lot of people online in this space and, if there’s a lack of authenticity, it starts to show after a while.”