... But Is Being The UK's Most Powerful Influencer All It's Cracked Up To Be?

CosmopolitansDaniellaScott and fitness star ALICELIVEINGare the same age. One has built a business empire worth millions. The other is on a mission to find out at what cost.

- Alice Liveing

On an unseasonably warm June afternoon, Alice Liveing sat on a wall in central London and cried. The tears took her by surprise at first: she’d only meant to sit down and take a breather after an increasingly stressful day, but once she did, the tears came fast and unbidden. It was no surprise really. Three years of working as a wellness influencer seven days a week, with 5am starts and finishing late into the night, had taken their toll. There was always filming to do, photos to take, meetings to get to, not to mention the hundreds of comments and emails to respond to. She was 25 years old. And she was exhausted.

If you’re not familiar with the name Alice Liveing, let me fill you in. She is probably the most famous wellness influencer in the UK. She used to work under the moniker Clean Eating Alice, which she set up from her student bedroom in 2014 as a way to chart her weight-loss journey. She has been bigger (size 12-14 on her petite 5ft 1in frame) and smaller (48kg and a size eight at her smallest) and now doesn’t talk about weight loss at all, but instead focuses on building strong, healthy, empowered bodies and minds under her real name, Alice Liveing. She has more than 639,000 followers on Instagram. She has graced the covers of numerous glossy women’s magazines (she was the best-selling cover girl of 2018 for Cosmopolitan’s sister title Women’s Health). She’s written three cookbooks (outselling Deliciously Ella and Jamie Oliver), and has her own line of fitness wear in Primark. Her Instagram feed is one of holidays in the south of France, perfectly poached eggs and abs as pronounced as a bag of onions. It is, on the surface at least, a #blessed life.