Skye High

We’ve been waiting to bust out that pun since we got Emily Skye for our cover! The fitness superstar may look as if her world is all sunshine and kettlebells, but she also rocks tummy rolls and stretch marks and shows every bit of it to her 13-million social followers. Here, she opens up to WH about conquering self-doubt, gaining 13kg and why strength is so much more powerful than perfection

- Leslie Goldman

Emily Skye has to pee. Badly. “Thank god we’re here, I’m busting!” the 32-year-old fitness guru exclaims in her cheeky Aussie accent after an hour-long, iced-almond-milk-latte-fuelled drive. Yep, she’s as frank in person as on her wildly popular social media feeds, where she cops to zits, digestive drama and “dessert babies” – aka post-treat bloat.

That openness not only sets Emily apart from the gaggle of sculpted fitfluencers out there, but has boosted her to the apex of the fitness market. The figures tell the story: 13-million followers across Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube; a number-three spot on Forbes’ Top Influencers 2017: Fitness list and a paying audience of 250 000 for her online workout programme, F.I.T. On this sunny day, Emily is further plumping up her portfolio with back-toback meetings about potential collaborations – make-up, TV, workout shoes, all the expected stops on the fitspo-star express.

She is driving that train in a new direction though. “It’s so important for women to remember that the people who inspire them are human and shouldn’t be put up on pedestals,” she says. Emily is essentially creating a new version of fitspo that aspires to be fit but not obsessed, a place where she can be unabashedly proud of her cut-and-curved self one minute and vulnerable and pal-next-door the next – with a touch of armchair psychologist.