What’s the Snark on Chiara Ferragni?

29:00So only a fraction of what Kiara made from this partnership was actually donated. And none of the proceeds from the actual sales of the cake was donated. Yeah, it's like a double whammy. Not only are you fraudulently marketing this, but also like a tiny, tiny percentage of your paycheck was given to cancer research or children suffering with cancer. Correct. And the proceeds of the cake were actually going directly to Chiara to pay for her to pay for her massive one million euro fee. it wasn't going to it wasn't going to cancer research oh yeah it was going to a children's hospital it was going to an already extremely wealthy influencer oh my god yeah under the guise of helping children oh my gosh that's like the worst thing you could do yeah so bad um and yeah so she received this one million euro paycheck and did not contribute any of that to the hospital neither herself nor the brand that she partnered with.

30:06And hold on. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Yeah. So the inflated price of the cake, which I mentioned earlier, was to pay for Chiara's million dollar fee or million euro fee. That's why the cake was so expensive. It's like so bad. Yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't used to treat children or to help children, but rather to cover the cost of the commercial operation. And essentially consumers were paying triple the price, like you said, for a Pandoro, believing they were donating a charity when in reality they were paying this wealthy influencers huge, huge fee. So the Italian, this was actually uncovered by an investigative journalist.

30:54And the Italian competition authority fined Finice 400 ,000 euros and TBS crew 675 ,000 euros, total 1.075 million euros. And this was for unfair commercial practice. The authority found the practice exploited consumer sensitivity to charitable initiatives, especially those aiding children with serious illnesses. And absolutely, they're absolutely correct. But it was like, while I was researching that, I was like, would the U.S. take this as seriously? No. Like Italy really cracked down. They made an example out of her and actually have like a law now named after her. But it's like, I feel like the U.S.

31:41would not take this as seriously. No, absolutely not. I feel like we would condone like her... earning all that money. Like, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, it's bad. It's really, I think that maybe there are, maybe there will be some repercussions because it's like fraudulent marketing, I guess. But yeah, Italy just has higher morals, I feel. I feel like they do too. Like when you think about how many like sweepstakes there are on Instagram with all these celebrities and this and that. And all of it like feels illegal very often. And no one cares. Like we do have a federal trade commission who should ideally be cracking down on these things, these illegal practices.

32:30And, you know, it's not the same thing, obviously, when like a children's charity is involved. But I feel like what is the FTC ever doing? No, I know. I'm like, what are those Kardashian giveaways where they would like be surrounded by Louis Vuitton bags. I feel like they're still doing those, by the way. They probably are still doing those. No one ever won those. That's my low stakes conspiracy theory. Oh, 100%. No one ever won those, but like the FTC isn't doing anything about that. Yeah. And that never made sense to me. Comment and follow these nine people so that you can win nine Louis Vuitton bags.

33:01I've never heard of anyone winning them. No one has ever won those. Like there are so many like illegal things that celebrities and influencers do on Instagram and it's like never cracked down on. And again, And obviously, this is this is very different because it involved deceiving consumers into thinking they were supporting a charity. But again, I just feel like the U.S. would not crack down on this the way that Italy did. So interestingly, internal emails later showed that the Beloco staff had flagged the misleading nature of the messaging. In November 2022, an internal note warned that it looked like buying the Pandoro contributed to the donation.

33:39And one employee wrote acidly that in reality, the sales serve to pay your exorbitant fee. This is the most critical point. The documentation proves that it wasn't a mistake, but a deliberate choice. They knew, they absolutely knew that there was just one, a one-time donation. And that the sales of the cake, even though it was being advertised one way, was not the truth. And I think Kiara knew as well. Yeah. And honestly, shame on Baloco too. for agreeing to all this. And even when someone at Beloco even says, in reality, the sales serves to pay your exorbitant fee. Like they were even aware that like she was being paid way over probably what they even budgeted.

34:22Like this is just bad all around. And it's so like greedy. It is so greedy. It's so greedy. It's so predatory. And another one of the messages says, it seems to me that the attention is to convey the message that by purchasing the Pandoro, you are contributing to the donation. The Ferragni team, however, imposed its own line, modifying the text to make sales appear as a means of funding medical research. Aboloco employs disparaging comment in an email is emblematic. Again, in reality, sales are used to pay your exorbitant fees. That is the standout line here, is that they 100 % knew that the sales were not going to sick kids.

34:56It is so, so, so bad and damning. And this is all written out before the cakes went on sale. They knew what was happening. Yeah. Very predatory, like you said. Yeah, it wasn't a mistake. Like, it's not like, oh, my God, like we really like we thought that, you know, like we thought this team was going to be in charge of the donation. You know, it was just an oversight fell through the cracks like we actually were planning on donating. No, they had no intention of donating proceeds from the cakes. And there was also a Ferragni-branded Easter egg, dessert Easter egg. What is with her in dessert scams, first of all?

35:30But this was another scandal that we will get into, that these chocolate eggs were marketed as supporting Bambini Del Fet, a charity helping children with autism. The charity only received 36 ,000 euros, and Chiara received a 1.2 million euro endorsement fee. Oh, my. So again, this is not just a one-time thing. This is like a pattern for her, which is crazy. Crazy. Like it's actually insane. And you know, this shit was also written in her contract too. Like everyone, the fact that they went out of their way to just make this fraudulent marketing campaign that all of your sales will go directly to children in hospitals suffering with cancer.

36:17What is wrong with you? You actually have to go out of your way to like manipulate the consumer like that in such a way that is so egregious. Totally. I just don't understand people that do that. No, it's crazy. It's egregious. Yeah. Like you said. And just to note, this is like the Italian. So she was in trouble with like the Italian version of the FTC. This wasn't like a legal case yet. and the apology and reimbursement for the cake scandal. In a video posted mid-December 2023, she said that she had made a mistake in good faith and pledged to personally donate 1 million euros to the Regina Margarita Hospital.

36:59Chiara and her company has then paid 3.4 million euros to the hospital, gave back the sponsorship fee to the confectioner Beloco and reimburse those who'd bought the cakes and the eggs. In her video, the influencer said that she would be appealing the disproportion unjust fine. So you're admitting that you fucked up big time and you're going to make this donation. You're going to apologize. But also the fine is too much. How does that make sense? Yeah, right. The fine is your punishment. Right. Pay for your crime, literally. Pay for your crime. Yes, this is what happens. You're lucky that you're not in jail.

37:33I mean, I don't know if that's actually a jailable offense. No, it is. So it ended up being a criminal case. And this actually did carry a potential prison sentence for aggravated fraud. And it bundled the products into a single case and ran much longer from late 2023 to the January 2026 verdict. And in late 2023, Milan prosecutors, I'm not even going to try to pronounce their names, opened an aggravated fraud investigation. investigation. Faragni and her former right-hand man, a.k.a. the ex-CEO of Finice, Fabio Maria D 'Amato, and another president of her group, Francesco Canilo, were charged.

38:16Prosecutors estimated the total economic return across the campaigns at over 2.2 billion euros. So they really raked it in while lying to the public about these donations they never ended up making.

38:29And another Baloco CEO, Alessandra Baloco, was initially investigated but died in August 2025, so was not charged or anything. And her trial was fast-tracked, and prosecutors requested a 20-month prison sentence, alleging that the marketing of the campaign was deliberately misleading. In January 2025, she was sent to trial on criminal charges for this aggravated fraud in conjunction with this investigation. And she denied the charges. She told the court, everything we've done, we have done in good faith, which is like not true. But she acknowledged that she had made a communication error. And a judge ended up finding her and two other defendants not guilty.

39:10She could have faced a jail term, obviously. Like, she was going to be in big, big, big trouble. And this was like the trial of the century, I feel like, in Italy. Like people were following this very closely because it was crazy to think of Kiara Faragny going to prison. Yeah, it's kind of like how when Paris and Lindsay were like in 2007 or whatever on trial and everything like it is. It's scandalous. People are watching. And I think like Kim Kardashian getting prosecuted for like fraud charges. Yeah, agreed. That would be crazy. So this verdict and dismissal in January 2026, she was cleared of aggravated fraud.

39:50But on procedural slash technical grounds, it wasn't like they were saying you're innocent. The aggravating factor fell and consumer groups had withdrawn complaints after over 3.6 million euros in fine settlements and donations. So it was kind of like, OK, you have you paid everyone back. You have made these donations like, OK.

40:14And sorry. Again, like being acquitted of these fraud charges doesn't mean that consumers weren't deceived. Criminal justice requires a very complex proof of artifice and deception. They established the objective fact, though, that Kiara deliberately deceived her followers, exploiting her charity work to collect a million dollar payout. She didn't appeal the ruling. She accepted this judgment. And avoiding a criminal trial doesn't change the substance that the antitrust ruling was unavoidable. And this acquittal, this is why the acquittal isn't a, you know, she was innocent type of acquittal. The judge rejected the aggravating factor the prosecutors relied on, the claim that online followers were especially easy to mislead.

41:01she had already it was the fact that simple fraud first of all can only be prosecuted if victims file complaints and the consumer associations had withdrawn theirs after feragni paid 150 euros per person in compensation so the offense was declared extinguished she kind of like beat them to it like yeah she's like yeah don't file anything because i'm going to pay you 150 euros um to kind of keep your mouth shut so yes exactly by paying everyone back so quickly i I guess. And only because she had been caught, it's not like it was out of the goodness of her heart. She, like you said, beat them to it.

41:33Yeah. Where she kind of like avoided serious criminal charges. She had already paid roughly 3.4 million euros back. So in tandem with this Pandoro gate, here are the other scandals that were folded into this. So the Easter eggs case for Easter 2021 in 2022, Kiara lent her brand of chocolate eggs produced by Dolce Prezzoso. I'm not pronouncing that right. Again, what is with her and these dessert scams? Yeah, well, it's crazy. I would think she wanted to be as far away as possible from these like dessert sales because of what has happened. I would just let it go. Let it go. No, but this was like, this was before.

42:18So this This is actually like even before the cake scandal. Oh, okay. But I'm going out of order. This was folded into the scandal. But the cake scandal was the big one that really, really, really got her in big trouble. But this ended up being something that was uncovered also. So the marketing of these Easter eggs told buyers that proceeds would help support Bambini Del Fette, a social enterprise founded by Franco Antonello that assists children with autism and their families. and um this investigative journalist the same one who uncovered the pandoro operation so this was all kind of unfolding in tandem uh flagged it and pointedly noted that feragni was quietly deleting numerous 2021 and 2022 easter egg posts while the story was developing so it's like she knew she knew that she was committing some sort of fraud with this yeah so feragni's companies agreed to donate a minimum of 1.2 million euros to this charity.

43:22And both sides pledged to completely separate their commercial operations from any charitable activity going forward. And she bring this publicly as a voluntary donation rather than a penalty. On the criminal side, prosecutors folded the eggs into this aggravated fraud case. They reconstructed that the donation was only 36 ,000 euros, independent of how many eggs were sold. So it was the same thing with the cakes. It was like, if you buy these eggs, we will donate. Your money will go directly to this charity when really it was just a one-time lump sum. Yeah. And then there was another, another one.

43:59This one is not a dessert. It's actually a doll. It's called the Trudy doll. And it was an anti-homophobia, anti-bullying doll that was released in 2019 with the toy company Trudy. And it was a figure of herself with blonde hair, blue eyes, a biker jacket. And she presented it on social media by saying that all profits would go to stomp out bullying. Once again, like, like, why do you keep pretending that you are donating things to charity that you're not? Like, this is three now. Three. I don't understand. Like, she's so successful. She has all the money in the world. Just sell product. Why do you continue to like lean on this charitable donation in alignment with your products you're hawking.

44:41Like, just sell the product. I don't know why she keeps getting herself into this mess. It's like almost under the guise of her desiring to show the public that she's such a good person. Yeah, exactly. There's no other reason for it, for you to associate every business endeavor you have to charity. It's just there's no other reason for it other than, like, cosplaying as a great person. Cosplaying as a great person. Yeah. And also really exploiting the preying on your followers' goodwill and wanting to help those in need. Yeah. Like, it's predatory. It is. And so, yeah, she said that all of these profits from this doll would go to stomp out bullying.

45:23And, again, this never became its own case. It got folded in the criminal investigation. So these were things that had happened in the past that were never fully investigated until the cake scandal happened. It's the same pattern. Like this, like three times is not a mistake. And that's the thing. It's like when I had first heard about the cake thing, I was like, you know, it doesn't sound like it was like her fault. It sounds like it was the company that she partnered with. But no, this is three times now. And interestingly, so these journalists who are investigating this, they contacted Ross Ellis, the CEO and founder of Stomp Out Bullying.

46:02The response was, they didn't know who Kiara Faragny was. The organization never received a single donation. that that is okay like not that i'm um rationalizing the other like hospital charitable contributions but the fact that she just said she was donating to this innocuous like charity without any connection with them is diabolical it needs to be studied no like at least for the other ones which were still really bad like some donation was made exactly even if it was just like the small one time in comparison to the exorbitant amount that she was raking in, there was still some sort of donation.

46:44They didn't even attempt to donate to the Stomp Out Bullying, which is crazy. It took them that long to be investigated and uncovered for this. Like, right. This is really, really, really egregious. Yeah. Like the CEO of Stomp Out Bullying was like, who? I don't know her. Yeah. It's fucking crazy. So she's got some chutzpah, like genuinely. She's got some. What? That's for her. Some nerve. Yeah. So there were tons of repercussions for Kiara after all of this came out. Again, the cake thing was like the big catalyst. But then like all of the other dominoes started to fall with the eggs and the dolls and all of that.

47:24So they were like, wow, this is really a pattern for her. Like she's not who we thought she was. So in March 2024, she was removed from the board of Todd's as she came under investigation. In June 2025, she was sued by Safi Lo, which was one of her partners, a brand partner for 5.9 million euros for breach of contract. And Coca-Cola suspended an already filmed commercial. She filmed this commercial and they were like, no, we're not airing this anymore. Pantene, she was their spokesmodel, their ambassador. They replaced her. And lots of other brands cut ties with her. and including Mona Lisa Children's Clothing Brand and various other partners.

48:09And in terms of the financial impact, so TBS Crew, the company running the blog slash online store, revenue fell 94%. Holy fuck. From 17.6 million euros in 2023 to 1.3 million euros in 2024. That's crazy. That's unheard of. Crazy. Yeah. And then Finiche, the company that holds the Chiara Faragni brand and trademarks and manages the branded products, revenues fell from 12.5 million euros in 2023 to 1.75 million euros in 2024. Like, this was a massive, massive, massive, not only reputational fall from grace, but financial. Yeah. Crash for her brand. I mean, when you have a person, it's interesting because yesterday we did an episode on Alex Cooper and the business of Unwell and just how that business is structured and just how she got there and da-da-da.

49:13But I think one thing in doing research for that episode was Alex Cooper mentioned at Cannes a couple months ago how she wants to make sure that Unwell as a brand can exist without her. and she was explaining that, you know, there are times when like Unwell will have a pop-up event and it shouldn't matter whether I'm there or not because Unwell is based on like a community that I've built. And she was saying like, God forbid, like I die or I want to step away. Unwell should still exist on its own without me. And I think when it comes to celebrity or influencer brands, you have to maintain a really, really clean reputation because if you as a person...

49:57Yeah, you're the brand. You are the brand. You cannot disconnect Chiara Faragni and her brands and trademarks away from Chiara Faragni, the person. So this obviously comes as no surprise that revenues fell almost 100%. That's crazy because she had such bad reputational... Like her reputation was tarnished at this point. Yes, exactly. Exactly. And there were like photos of her like showing up to court, like paparazzi photos. It was just like so just bad, just really, really, really bad. And like you said, she's the brand. And it's like, who wants to support this brand now? You're a crook. No, exactly.

50:35You're a crook. You're a fucking crook. You're a crook. Yes. And yeah, it's really interesting. Like, I wonder what celebrity brands could stand without on their road. Like they're... Rode. I truly think at this point Rode... If Hayley Bieber... But if Hayley Bieber got canceled, could Rode survive if Hayley Bieber's canceled? That's the thing. It's like you look at Rode and you're like, this is Hayley Bieber's brand. Well, actually, yeah, I actually take that back. Now that I'm thinking about it, I feel like the reason why you go to Sephora and Rode is completely wiped off the shelves, it's because Hayley Bieber, you are buying Hayley Bieber.

51:12She is so influential. She's such an it girl. she is our it girl of like 2020 and beyond yeah i actually think i know i keep talking about kim kardashian kim kardashian has been quote-unquote like canceled not to this extent but like she's had so many scandals skims i think will outlast kim kardashian yes so i think that's i think that's an example of one that she's done a really good job with kind of making skims its own living breathing entity that's a very good example every other celebrity brand i feel like is like even like Rare Beauty, which we've talked about, is a very successful celebrity brand.

51:47Selena Gomez is a makeup brand because the products are really good. But like if Selena Gomez got canceled, would Rare Beauty survive? Maybe. Yeah. I'm trying to think of like alcohol brands too. Like 818. Do you think 818 Tequila would survive without Kendall? No. No. You know what? Actually, Cosamigos, for example. George Clooney. Yeah. Yeah. I forget that George Clooney founded it. That's a good one. Cosamigos. Like when I think of Cosamigos, it's just a good tequila brand that everyone drinks. Like when I talk to people that I don't, I'm not a tequila drinker, I don't like the taste of it.

52:19But a lot of people that I know that are tequila lovers, they tell me 818 is disgusting. Yeah. They're like, it's literally so lowbrow. I've heard that too. I don't like tequila either, but I've heard that too. Yeah, but I think Casamigos is a legitimate brand. So Casamigos, I think is a great one. George Clooney is not even the face of it. He just founded it and probably had the capital to push it forward. But I don't think of George Clooney when I think of Casamigos. That's where you want to get as a brand. where like you don't want to be attached so much to it versus her. It's like she is the brand and she's a crook.

52:47And she's a crook. Yeah. And that's like Kylie Jenner's problem is that her brands are literally, her name is in the brand. We have a whole Patreon episode on Kylie's brands. Kylie's like failing floundering brands that she's created over the years. Truly fascinating how many brands she has had that have come up. And then as quickly as they came up, they came down. We covered that on Patreon like last year. But yeah, turned exactly. But yeah, I mean, that's that's the risk. And they all and they all have her name in it. And it's like you don't realize that like like it is we we really talk about how Kris Jenner is like this brilliant marketer and the Kardashians are so brilliant.

53:25But it's like they're actually really dumb sometimes. Like it was like the worst. Yeah, it was. Yeah. Kylie has made so many horrible business moves and she's OK. Like she'll survive. She's still worth, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars or however much she's worth. Like she's not in any dire financial straits, but like there have been so many bad moves with Kylie's brands that it's like really, really, really, it pokes holes in that, in that theory that, you know, Kris Jenner is so brilliant. But yeah, that's over on Patreon. But anyway, so yeah, this was a huge, huge, huge economic downturn for the Kiara brands.

54:01All of their physical stores closed. The Kiara brand ended up like rebranding. It's not really shoes anymore. They have like, beauty, I guess. It completely ruined it. It doesn't have the eye logo anymore. It's a totally different brand at this point. Who knows if people are actually buying it, honestly? Who doesn't have a beauty brand at this point? My God. Yeah, seriously. It's like, please. So one of her business partners, an investor named Paolo Barletta, owned 40 % of the company through his firm Alchemia, the Chiara Ferragni brand. He decided it was a lost cause. He accepted that his share was now worth nothing.

54:38He lost over 15 million euros and walked away. And to stop Fenice from dying completely, Kiara put 6.4 million euros of her own money back in it. She was the one who kept it alive, so she now owns the entire thing, 99 % of the company. And then the Ferragni Law was created in honor of Kiara. I don't know if in honor is the right word. Yeah. Because of. Because of Chiara. And the Ferragni Law is now an Italian law that prevents future fraud and false advertising by influencers. And it's a new legislation passed in 2024 that imposes greater transparency requirements from influencers with more than one million followers promoting charity fundraisers.

55:27which again I think is so great and it's like the U.S. would never do this. No we never make an example of anyone. Oh no absolutely not you can like everyone can be can be bought out in the U.S. unfortunately everyone is corrupt. Yeah it's true. Everyone can be bought like it's so that's why we were just talking about Thea and like Phoebe Gates and I'm like oh my god the fact that Kiara Faragny was actually facing real jail time. We know Phoebe Gates is not going to jail in the US. Yeah. No, absolutely not. For committing fraud. Like it's a different kind of fraud, but it's still fraud. And yeah, we need to do, I think Patreon next week, I will do a Fia deep dive for you guys.

56:11And the heart of all that is that yesterday in talking about Alex Cooper and the brand of Unwell, Phoebe Gates had a podcast under the Unwell network called The Burnouts That's No Longer Existing. But it all comes back to Alex Cooper and the brand that is Unwell. And yeah, it's a good episode. Yes. Excited for that one. So let's talk about Chiara's marriage to Fedez. And do you have any more questions about the scandals, the court case? No, I think you explained it really well. I am just astonished. I know it's really complicated. No, I'm just I'm genuinely astonished at someone of her caliber of like wealth and stuff.

56:55It always astonishes me when I find out that people just of this nature and this wealth just want more and more and more. And we'll do it at every single at all costs. But it always astonishes me. It's like, aren't you just comfortable now? Just relax. Just relax. Like you're already so rich. Why do you have to be so greedy? Right. Oh, it's crazy. Okay. So let's talk about Fidesz. So Chiara met rapper Fidesz, aka Federico Leonardo Lucia, in 2016. And he proposed on stage in Verona in May 2017. And they married Noto Sicily on September 1st, 2018. And I actually worked at The Knot at this time. So we were like obsessed with, I mean, obsessed with covering weddings.

57:40That was like our job to cover weddings. and I remember this being so huge. Like I said, it got more impressions and made more noise on the internet than Harry and Meghan, which is crazy in terms of online impressions, engagement, et cetera. They also got married in 2018. Like that is crazy. That was literally a royal wedding, but like this wedding was so, like that just like puts into perspective how they were the royal couple of Italy. And her wedding dress was stunning. It was custom Dior. She had a bunch of different custom Dior looks, and it was just literally stunning. And it's interesting that looking back on this wedding, knowing what we know now about their relationship, how they were very much on the rocks even as they were getting married.

58:29So it's just interesting because looking at these, it looked like such a fairy tale. I'm looking at this Harper's Bazaar article about their wedding, and she looks absolutely certain. They have their kid in one of the photos. Yeah, their son, Leo, his name is Leon, and he was born March 2018. So he was just like six months old at their wedding. And then Vittoria was born March 2021. And they, like I said, were literally Italy's royal family. And they were partners not only in life, but in business. They had the reality show. They had podcasts. They had brands and pop-up stores. And they were very much like this power couple.

59:09And they pushed a lot of progressive politics, including pro-LGBTQ plus issues. And this made the Catholic Church and right-wing people in Italy very angry, which is a huge deal because the church is very powerful in Italy. And right when the scandal broke is when a right winger came into power in Italy named Maloney, Prime Minister Giorgia Maloney. And she was very conservative. So the fact that she cracked down on Chiara, she wanted to make an example out of her. Probably because, you know, like, it's like, yes, she was right to make an example out of her, but also like the ulterior motives, you know.

59:53Like, it's because you know that Chiara is progressive and pro-LGBTQ +, and all of these things that you are not because you're a very conservative right-winger in Italy. And yeah, she very, very, very much singled out Chiara, calling her the wrong kind of role model and criticized influencers, and just wanted to make an example out of her, which she obviously did. Nothing makes you appreciate good betting more than a hot August night, Having something that's lightweight, breathable, cool, and easy to sleep in no matter how hot it gets is so freaking important. That's why I love Quince. It's my go-to for bedding for so long now with high-quality materials like 100 % European linen and organic cotton.

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1:03:12And let's talk about the split. But so cracks appeared after the San Remo 2023 festival special, whatever it was, it was like a TV special. When Fidesz kissed rapper Rosa Chemical on stage. So Rosa Chemical pulled Fidesz into a kiss during his performance. Chiara was co-hosting this special. And they had this like very public like make out, which is very bizarre, obviously. not just because it's it's shoo men it's the fact it's not weird that it's too bad it's the fact that like he's married he's married yeah is right there he's married yeah and yeah he later publicly addressed the incident and the friction it caused with his wife saying he hadn't been in a clear state of mind he said i was a period in which i wasn't lucid and a part of me that i'm not proud of came out i'm very sorry for what i wasn't able to do and for what i did and so also another thing that kind of led to the demise of their marriage was actually the Pandora scandal, the cake scandal.

1:04:16So he apparently didn't really support her and allegedly complained that her legal problems were hurting his own business. He also acted like the Pandora scandal, this scandal was why he was divorcing her, which I don't think was the case because there were lots and lots and lots of cheating allegations. I think that it was much more than this, but it kind of was him acting like he was so right He was like, wow, I can't believe you deceived consumers. I can't be with you anymore. It's like, no, please, please. He just was an asshole husband and like wanted a reason to leave her. Yeah. And look, like Kiara is no angel either, sweetheart.

1:04:54But like, I actually feel really, really, really bad for her when all the stuff about Fidesz came out that he had been cheating on her. He'd been having an affair, like even before their wedding. He was not a good guy. I mean, for richer or for poorer, like, you married her because you love her, not because of everything that she has. And you should be supporting your partner when, again, I'm not rationalizing her decisions. She was fucked up for doing it. But stand by your wife. Yeah, exactly. And I don't believe that he wasn't, like, enjoying the, you know, riches of her scams. Right. Like, I'm sure he was loving it.

1:05:31Like, they had a Lake Como home. They had a gorgeous Milan home. They were like such wealthy jet setters. Like he was raking it in also. He was enjoying living that lavish life. I think he only cared because it was affecting his bottom line. Yep. And also he probably just wanted a reason to leave her because he never liked her that much to begin with. He had a wandering eye anyways. He had a wandering eye. Yeah. So he moved out of their Milan home in February 2024. And the separation was officially filed in November of that year. And the divorce was final in 2025. Yeah. And on January 29th, 2025, after, you know, the news of the trial for aggravated fraud, Kiara publicly accused Fidesz of having had affairs with many other women.

1:06:18So in January of that year, Fabrizio Corona, a notorious former paparazzo turned YouTube scandal breaker, released episodes titled Fidesz's True Love. and he alleged that Fidesz had been in love with a Milanese fashion designer named Angelica Montini before, during, and after his marriage to Faragni. So Corona claimed the two had known each other before the 2018 wedding and said that minutes before saying his vows to Chiara, Fidesz locked himself in a bathroom to call Montini and tell her he loved her. This, I remember this so vividly and being like, this fucking asshole. I 100 % believe this.

1:06:58Yeah, this is very dark-sided. Sorry. This is like, yeah, this is like a movie. I don't like this at all. Yeah. So he backed up with receipts, like chats, recorded phone calls. He claimed the affair had begun in 2017, again, before the wedding. So Kiara responded that evening and broke her silence. And she said that she had chosen, she basically, you know, validated this and was like, I had chosen to be silent for months to protect myself and my family, but I can no longer stay quiet. she said and this is after they had already separated in late 2024 so they were already like done at this point I think that she was keeping quiet for whatever reason like she said to protect her family but she was like yeah like it's all out there now um she said that she only learned of this mistress when Fidesz confided to her before Christmas even though the relationship had reportedly begun back in 2017 before their marriage and he confessed to that he was like I've had a lover since 2017 and had considered not marrying her just days before the wedding.

1:08:00Dude, they have children together too. This is like so messy. Yeah. And she said she threw up when she learned the truth. And it's just like I said, like everyone looked at that wedding as so perfect and aspirational, like this incredible Italian fairy tale. And meanwhile, this was happening behind the scenes. That is, you never know what's going on in someone's life. Just a reminder. Yeah. You have no idea. And yeah, she realized that this was not the only affair that he had had during their relationship. He had, as you put it, a wandering eye for basically the entire duration of their relationship.

1:08:36Remember, they met in 2016. Oh, yeah. And he was already having a lover. He was already having a lover in 2017. Yeah. She said her relationship was real for me. I've never been in an open relationship. It was obviously only open for the other party without me knowing. There were two people in this marriage. No, it was three people. Sorry. There were three people in this marriage. There were three people in this marriage. So it got quite crowded. Yeah. I always say that with me, Henry, and my stuffed animal, Brown Doggy. I am familiar with Brown Doggy. Yeah. Brown Doggy. Everyone knows Brown Doggy, my stuffed animal.

1:09:12Okay. So Corona, this blogger also accused Kiara of having cheated. So while Fidesz was definitely, you know, more of the Lothario in this relationship, Kiara may have been no angel either, sweetheart, when it comes to staying faithful. Apparently, she cheated with a singer named Achille Loro and insinuated that Fidesz knew about it too and that she had admitted it to him. But this singer, Loro, denied the claim. and two days later Fidesz responds publicly on Instagram. This is like so messy. Like they're both so publicly messy. Like that's what our American celebrities are missing. I really miss the mess.

1:09:54Like I was watching old TMZ videos from like Britney Lindsay days and I'm like people don't get messy like this anymore. Yeah, no, it's true. It's true. They used to be like on Twitter like tweeting at each other. Yep, they, you know when Lindsay, Paris Hilton hit me and I'm very upset. She threw a drink at me. Remember that? That paparazzi video? Yeah. And then remember when Kendall Jenner tweeted at Rihanna and was like, you better play like whatever song it was tonight at your show. And Rihanna goes like, girl, don't come. Yeah. Then don't come. No, I know. People used to be. I remember when Selena and Justin.

1:10:25They used to be so messy. Selena and Justin would beef on Instagram captions all the fucking time. Like, we need to exist. Oh, my God. Remember when Selena was like, what did she say? Barbara Palvin? Yes. Yes, but also she was like, when Justin was like, stop bullying my girlfriend, Sophia Richie. And Selena was like, then don't post her. Dude, Selena is so messy. Have we done a Selena episode? I know we've done a Justin episode, obviously. No, I don't think we do. But I think, you know what? I'm adding that to the calendar. We need to add it to the calendar now. Literally doing it right now because I need to leave that one because, you know.

1:11:02Yes, I am. Wait, remember when Selena was crashing out on Instagram like a few months ago? like when Taylor went to the Knicks game with like the Heim sisters. And I was like, oh, Chrissy, I know you're going to have a field day with this. Because I was at your house. You see the news? You see the news? I knew you'd have a field day with that one. You're going to have a fucking field day with me. Do you want juice press or not? I'm ordering.

1:11:28What do you want? Here's your juice. Catch up on the Selena mess. I knew you would have a field day. So, no, it's like, how do you like adore someone so much, but fucking can't stand her too. Like, Selena, every fucking day you make me defend you and it's getting harder and harder for me. Every day. I wake up and I'm sweating. Figure out, what did Selena do today? Kiss me off more. It's crazy. So where was I? What do you want from Juice Press? And by the way, Selena. Selena crashing out. So Fedez came out on Instagram and said, the idea that I would consider leaving my wife on my wedding day to flee to the other side of Italy is simply ridiculous.

1:12:09I chose Chiara with conviction. I loved her. I married her without hesitation. And we built a family together. Despite our differences, she will always be important to me because she is the mother of my children. And so he denied this. I'm sure he did. Dude, they both are messy as hell. I believe that she was cheating and he was cheating. And like, yeah, he said, she said, but it just seems like a very messy relationship. But it's so crazy because their businesses were so tied. Like, it was it was business also like they were such a power couple that like when it rains it pours like all of this came out with her scandals and then her marriage fell apart and it was like oh my god it was just such a recipe for really an economic crash out with her brand right um and then so they divorced they've got joint custody of their children spending roughly equal time with each parent.

1:13:01And Kiara's lawyer actually clarified they're predominantly placed with the mother and should be. And social media posts that the children require both parents' approval. And it's funny, I actually was thinking about this when I was doing this episode, when I was researching, that she used to post her kids, Leo and Vittoria, all the time. And I just remember thinking I was like wow they're so like old now they're like like Leo is probably what eight years old now yeah and Vittoria is five and I remember they were like toddlers and she was posting them and now she never posts them probably because of this clause that they need both parents approval and which is good like you shouldn't be posting your kids on social media but it's funny it's like wow I didn't realize that like her son now is eight years old like I remember seeing him when he was like two all the time on her Instagram.

1:13:56And their assets were largely separated. They put their Lake Como Villa, bought for 5 million euros, up for sale. Wow. If I had to sell my Lake Como Villa because of someone's dusty ass son, I would not be happy. No. Because, you know, she was obviously, I mean, he was successful in his own right. And they were a successful power couple. But, like, she was the breadwinner. and there was supposed to be a season three of their show but never happened obviously because of all of this. Yeah I feel like also when couples are kind of going down the drain they like want to be on reality TV. I don't know it's like such a weird thing because that's kind of the kiss of death but I feel like it's never a good sign when you're like really really excited to jump on reality TV with your spouse.

1:14:39Totally. It's just so. Yeah so as of 2026 she is rebuilding her empire. Her reputation score has recovered now to 68 out of 100 from a low of 22. So she's getting better. Her followers have stabilized around 27.4 million. Her peak was just under 30 million, 29.7. Her raw following didn't really move that much, despite the headlines. Her engagement on socials definitely isn't what it used to be. She wasn't seen as authentic to the masses anymore for good reason. She lost a lot of that trust that we talked about. And she also, you know, brands aren't, you know, chomping at the bit to partner with her anymore at all.

1:15:26And she was in an on-off relationship with Pirelli heir Giovanni Troncetti Provera, which ended in late 2025. And then I saw, I was like, wait, am I going crazy? I swear she just hard launched someone. She did. She just hard launched someone on Instagram very recently. Someone named Jose Hernandez. He's a Colombian entrepreneur from what I'm looking at. Yes. So it seems like they are very much in love. She did a whole dump of them kissing and canoodling. and the blonde salad run by TBS crew still exists and still operates as this blog e-commerce site as well as the talent agency representing Kiara and its revenue collapsed like we said 94 % in 2024 sponsorships dried up but the site is still live and hosts her content but it's no longer the force that launched everything back in 2009.

1:16:26And the shoe collection doesn't really exist anymore. Like I said, the physical store is closed. It rebranded. They dropped the glitter, the pink, the Winking Eye logo and replaced it now with like this minimal butter yellow identity. Kind of giving Matilda Durf butter yellow. I just think of Matilda Durf. Yeah. So sales obviously nowhere near what it used to be and shifted away from footwear, like I said, toward beauty and makeup. So very interesting pivot. And financially, Finiche, the company that holds the brand, recovered somewhat in 2025, around 2.7 million euros in revenue, up 25 % from the previous year.

1:17:09But that's still a fraction of pre-scandal. 2023, its revenue was 12.5 million euros. So yeah, that is the fallen rise of Chiara Faragni. And I don't know, like I said, like, I'm not like a business expert, but it does seem like she was aware of what was happening and she was complicit. And it definitely makes me look at her differently. At the same time, I have sympathy for her because she was married to this fucking asshole Fidesz. So I don't know. I don't know. I feel like, yes, I think that she is. She deceived her customers for sure. Yeah. And again, when you are your brand, you need to make sure that you are maintaining a brand safe image.

1:18:01Your entire financial health of your company will rely on it. And the fact that she made so many of these same errors over and over and over again makes me think that she found herself to be invincible. She's like, I'm not going to get caught. I'm going to collect$1.3 million from this cake company and no one will be none the wiser. Like it's just it's like a really privileged kind of tone deaf, really stupid mistake to think that you were above the law and that you can just call on all of your very devoted followers into thinking that you're some charitable person when in fact it's like such a scam.

1:18:37Yeah, totally. Like, it's really not. It's not good. And I think that's when your whole brand is predicated on authenticity and building trust with your followers and you do the exact opposite. What do you expect? Yeah. And it's just, like, so audacious. Yeah. Like, you have so much audacity to straight up lie to your followers and to your fans and say, you know, you will be doing a good thing by purchasing this thing. when really they are just funding your huge, massive, massive, massive fee. That is, you know, 10 times what the actual lump sum donation is. And it's one thing to like blame it on the company.

1:19:14I didn't know, but it seems like, no, no, you were like very aware multiple times with multiple partnerships what you were doing. Totally. Totally. And it does seem like, like I still follow her on Instagram and she does seem like she still has tons of support, tons of fans. She still has this like glamorous jet setting lifestyle. She posted something recently. It was a video without makeup. And she was talking about, you know, how we're so used to seeing Photoshop and Botox and all of that. But, you know, I am embracing getting older and all of that. And, yeah, so it seems like she is kind of turning a new leaf in her life and maybe trying to be a better person.

1:20:01And we can allow that. And she seems to have found love again. And yeah, I'm curious what you guys think. Were you aware of Kiara Faragni? Are you still fans of hers? What do you think of this whole scandal? How complicit do you think she actually is? Yeah. Yeah. So that is our episode for today. Thank you guys for being here. We love you. we have on Patreon a deep dive into the Unwell. Speaking of celebrity brands, the Unwell Network. That was on Patreon yesterday. And then tomorrow we have our newsletter go out, which goes out every Friday. And both of those links are in our show notes. Oh, and we have a special announcement.

1:20:47If you guys are on YouTube, I'm wearing my snarky sweatshirt and that is set to go on sale in about two weeks. So follow along on our Instagram. We have like really, really cute sweatshirts, hats, water bottles, limited. Very limited inventory because one and done. We're done with merch. Well, we'll give you guys more updates in the coming weeks, but it's my favorite sweatshirt. Yeah, stay tuned. I literally almost wore mine. But then I was like, I wore a gray sweatshirt when we were recording earlier this week. So I was like, maybe I should not outfit repeat. Why did I care? Yeah. Yeah. And if you guys are interested - I love that sweatshirt too.

1:21:27I love it. It's so comfy. It's embroidered. It's like really thick and it's really good material. But if you guys are interested in buying our merchandise, what I will say is patrons will get the first dibs. So look forward to that and we'll keep you guys updated in the coming weeks. But we love you guys so much. and we will see you on Tuesday for another episode of Drunk Energy Tuesday. Bye, guys. Bye.

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