Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is facing a situation that few tech executives ever encounter: watching her own life story dramatized on screen \u2014 without her involvement.<\/p>\n
Hulu\u2019s new biopic <\/a>about the 35-year-old entrepreneur premiered on Sept. 8. Swiped stars Lily James as Wolfe Herd and traces her dramatic rise<\/a> from Tinder cofounder to Bumble CEO<\/a> and youngest woman<\/a> to take a company public. But Wolfe Herd herself says the project has left her deeply uneasy.<\/p>\n In an interview<\/a> with CNBC\u2019s Julia Boorstin, Wolfe Herd admitted she only learned of the film once it was already \u201coff to the races,\u201d with a script in hand and production underway. Her discomfort ran so deep that she asked her lawyer to intervene.<\/p>\n \u201cI even was asking my lawyer two years ago, \u2018What do I do? I don\u2019t want a movie made about me. Shut it down!’\u201d Herd recalled.<\/p>\n As she acknowledged, public figures often have little legal recourse to stop projects based on publicly known stories.<\/p>\n The experience has been unsettling. Wolfe Herd said she finds the idea of a movie about her life \u201ctoo weird,\u201d confessing she hasn\u2019t been able to watch the trailer all the way through. At the same time, she expressed some appreciation for the casting choice, calling it an \u201chonor\u201d to be portrayed by James. Still, the mix of emotions has left her conflicted.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m obviously both terrified and maybe slightly flattered,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the strangeness and the fear of it outweighs any flattery.\u201d<\/p>\n The film arrives at a moment when Hollywood has increasingly turned to Silicon Valley for inspiration. Hulu\u2019s The Dropout<\/a> chronicled Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, Apple<\/a> TV+\u2019s WeCrashed <\/a>dramatized Adam Neumann and WeWork<\/a>, while older films put the lives of Steve Jobs<\/a> and Mark Zuckerberg<\/a>\u00a0on screen.<\/p>\n These projects try to infuse the adrenaline of Silicon Valley invention with the staidness of business reality. And Wolfe Herd\u2019s career\u2014with its combination of early success, controversy, and ultimately a billion-dollar IPO\u2014fits neatly into the genre.<\/p>\n Indeed, Wolfe Herd\u2019s story<\/a> is, in many ways, cinematic. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to a family invested in both philanthropy and property development, she launched her first business<\/a> before 21, which was a bamboo tote bag project to raise funds for those affected by the BP<\/a> oil spill of 2010. She was instrumental in Tinder\u2019s meteoric rise but left following a high-profile lawsuit<\/a>, only to cofound Bumble <\/a>in 2014\u2014a dating app premised on women making the first move.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2021, Wolfe Herd became the youngest woman in history to take a company public, ringing the Nasdaq bell <\/a>with her son on her hip. Today, Bumble boasts<\/a> millions of users and a reputation for promoting safer, more empowering online interactions.<\/p>\n But success doesn\u2019t always mean control over your own story. Hulu\u2019s film, directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg and drawing extensively from public records, lawsuits, and media accounts, bypassed Wolfe Herd\u2019s participation from the start. Some critics have described the movie as entertaining but \u201cthin,\u201d relying on the broader narrative of girlboss ascent while acknowledging the lack of deep input from its subject.<\/p>\n