Tobi Pearce, half of Kayla Itsines’ bikini body fitness empire, charged with driving recklessly and possessing prescription drugs
EXCLUSIVE: One of SA’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, Tobi Pearce — the partner of bikini-body queen Kayla Itsines — is being prosecuted for reckless driving and being allegedly caught with prescription drugs. .
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ONE of the state’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, Tobi Pearce — who is the partner of bikini-body queen Kayla Itsines — is being prosecuted for reckless driving and allegedly being caught with prescription drugs.
Four tablets of the drug Cabolin — commonly used to offset the side-effects of steroid abuse — were seized from the millionaire businessman when he was stopped by police and accused of driving recklessly on one of Adelaide’s busiest roads almost a year ago.
Tobias Robert William Pearce, 24, faces a maximum two years in jail and a minimum 12-month driving ban if found guilty.
Pearce, of Lockleys, in the western suburbs, declined to respond to requests for comment on the drug and driving charges, or to explain why he allegedly had the drug.
Cabolin, a brand name for the medicine known generically as cabergoline, is used “off label” by bodybuilders to offset the side-effects of steroid abuse.
Websites marketing the drug to bodybuilders say it can “combat prolactin-related side-effects caused by certain anabolic steroids”.
Prolactin, a protein that promotes lactation, can cripple a steroid user’s sex drive. It is claimed Cabolin can be used to “normalise” a user’s libido.
In 2015, Itsines, 25, and Pearce sued fellow Adelaide online celebrities Harley Johnstone — known as Durianrider — and Leanne Ratcliffe — Freelee the Banana Girl.
The matter settled out of court. Itsines had asserted the duo defamed her, through false claims that her program starved people, and Pearce, by wrongly claiming he used steroids.
They accused Ratcliffe and Johnstone of being “foul-mouthed parasites” who were claiming victim status and trying to encourage cyber-vigilante action against Itsines and Pearce.
Pearce, known as Tobi, will face a two-day Adelaide Magistrates Court trial in May, over allegations he drove his car — with a licence plate TOBIAS — recklessly on South Rd, at Black Forest, in Adelaide’s inner south on February 26 last year.
Court documents allege he also breached laws that a person must not have prescription drugs without medical permission.
Itsines and Pearce have published Bikini Body Guides and produce one of the world’s top rating and highest grossing smartphone apps, Sweat With Kayla — harnessing an immense online popularity. Itsines has almost 18 million social media followers.
Pearce, the chief executive officer of the Parkside-based Bikini Body Training Company, is listed with Itsines at 51 on the BRW young rich list with a total fortune of $46 million.
Prosecutors have not revealed what type of car Pearce was driving but he owns a black Lamborghini Huracan, which The Advertiser last year revealed was embroiled in online controversy over parking in a disabled bay. That car bore the numberplate PABLO.
It is not known if Pearce, who said he transformed himself from a “60kg classical musician in high school to a 102kg bodybuilder”, possesses a disabled parking permit.
