Natalie Robehmed
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Anyone who has a mother probably knows that that relationship with your mother can be complicated.
But what happens when both mother and daughter struggle with mental health, and one of them is one of the most famous people in the world, and the other isn't?
Add in trying to make a business out of mental health, and you've got the story of Wondermind, Selena Gomez's ill-fated and little-known mental health startup.
Today, we're talking about Disney star-turned-beauty mogul Selena Gomez and her mom, Mandy Teefey.
In 2021, Selena and Mandy co-founded Wondermind, a startup that aimed to destigmatize mental health and democratize its care.
But what actually happened at Wondermind was very different.
Selena's mom, Mandy Tiffey, was Wondermind's CEO, and an erratic one at that.
In many ways, Wondermind's unraveling echoes some of the epic startup downfalls of the last decade plus, such as Theranos or WeWork.
But it's also much more personal than those.
It's about child stardom and mental health, and what we really owe those we love.
She gave birth to Selena when she was just 16 years old.
The pair lived in a rough neighborhood in a small town in Texas, where Mandy struggled to make ends meet as a single mom.
From Sony Music Entertainment and Campside Media, this is Infamous.
With us today is Angelina Chapin, a features writer for The Cut, who wrote a fantastic story for The Cut titled What Happened at Wondermind.