{"id":636961,"date":"2026-08-14T14:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T14:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/636961\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T14:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T14:48:15","slug":"selena-gomez-and-her-mental-health-startup-accused-of-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/636961\/","title":{"rendered":"Selena Gomez and her mental health startup accused of fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Selena Gomez and her mental health startup accused of fraud<\/p>\n

\"CNNNEW YORK \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several investors in Selena Gomez\u2019s mental health startup Wondermind sued the pop star Thursday, claiming they were misled about the startup\u2019s success and her involvement in it.<\/p>\n

Wondermind launched in 2021, with Gomez listed as co-founder, \u201cchief impact officer,\u201d and head of marketing, according to the suit. The media platform was designed to give users \u201ceasy, doable ways to put your mental fitness first every day,\u201d its website reads, directing visitors to sign up for a newsletter.<\/p>\n

Five investors said in the lawsuit that they put in $1.2 million in 2022, expecting Gomez to leverage her star power and massive social media following to build up the company.<\/p>\n

Instead, \u201cfor three years, while the Company quietly collapsed around them, not one of its founders, officers, or directors said a word to the investors whose money was funding the collapse,\u201d the lawsuit alleged.<\/p>\n

The investors also sued Mandy Teefey, Gomez\u2019s mother and co-chief executive officer, and their former business partner, Daniella Pierson. The parties are being sued for securities fraud, common law fraud, breach of contract and other claims. The plaintiffs are seeking to recoup their investments as well as damages and attorney\u2019s fees.<\/p>\n

The company said it had a $95 million valuation in 2022, when investors were allegedly led to believe there would be corporate partnerships with companies like JPMorgan as well as \u201cadvertising deals, celebrity cover stories, and a groundbreaking app,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe partnerships did not exist. The initiatives never materialized. The app was never built,\u201d the investors alleged.<\/p>\n

Investors found out about the company\u2019s troubles in an explosive article published<\/a> by The Cut last year, which reported that the company was burdened by internal power and relationship struggles.<\/p>\n

The article forms a major basis for the lawsuit. The suit cited The Cut reporting when it said Gomez didn\u2019t fulfill her contractual obligations because of \u201cher long-running personal struggles with her mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gomez, Teefey and Pierson collectively owned almost 90% of the company\u2019s shares, the lawsuit claimed.<\/p>\n

Teefey told investors that Pierson allegedly used investor funds to help pay her rent in New York City, which came to approximately $60,000 a month, according to the lawsuit. Pierson left Wondermind in 2023.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Thursday, Pierson said she \u201cdenies the allegations against her and welcomes the opportunity to present concrete documentation and financial records that establish the facts.\u201d She also said she never used investor funds for personal expenses.<\/p>\n

Gomez, Teefey and Wondermind did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Selena Gomez and her mental health startup accused of fraud NEW YORK \u2014 Several investors in Selena Gomez\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[276],"tags":[269114,269119,39133,88575,269120,269121,269131,30679,269122,2006,269129,120733,268551,18,269128,12668,269130,135,19,1094,269123,269124,17,269115,10019,269116,269125,167,269126,502,12440,92443,269127,8078,69526,119621,34361,269117,69008,269118],"class_list":["post-636961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-95-million-valuation","tag-advertising-deals","tag-attorneys-fees","tag-breach-of-contract","tag-celebrity-cover-stories","tag-chief-impact-officer","tag-co-chief-executive-officer","tag-co-founder","tag-common-law-fraud","tag-company","tag-corporate-partnership","tag-damages","tag-daniella-pierson","tag-eire","tag-explosive-article","tag-fraud","tag-groundbreaking-app","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-investor","tag-investor-funds","tag-investor-lawsuit","tag-ireland","tag-jpmorgan-partnership","tag-lawsuit","tag-mandy-teefey","tag-marketing-head","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-startup","tag-mentalhealth","tag-mother","tag-personal-struggles","tag-securities-fraud","tag-selena-gomez","tag-shnd","tag-startup-collapse","tag-suit","tag-the-cut-article","tag-wondermind","tag-wondermind-investors"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}