Hailey Bieber: Model, Rhode Founder, and the Billion-Dollar Beauty Deal
Introduction
Hailey Bieber built a modeling career of her own before most people knew her as Justin Bieber’s wife, and in the years since, she’s built something bigger: a billion-dollar beauty brand. Readers searching her name today are typically after a mix of things: her path from Ford Models to founding Rhode, the details of its 2025 sale to e.l.f. Beauty, and where things stand with her marriage and young son. This guide draws on Wikipedia’s documented career record, CNBC’s and Forbes’ reporting on the Rhode acquisition, and e.l.f. Beauty’s own press release, while noting where net worth estimates genuinely vary.
Quick Facts
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Hailey Rhode Bieber, née Baldwin |
| Born | November 22, 1996, Tucson, Arizona |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Model, businesswoman, media personality |
| Father | Stephen Baldwin, actor |
| Founded | Rhode, skincare and beauty brand (2022) |
| Rhode Acquisition | Acquired by e.l.f. Beauty in a deal valued up to $1 billion, announced May 2025 |
| Married | Justin Bieber, since 2018 |
| Son | Jack Blues Bieber, born August 2024 |
| Net Worth (estimated) | Published estimates generally range from $300 million to $433 million |
Who Is Hailey Bieber?
Hailey Bieber is an American model and entrepreneur best known today as the founder and chief creative officer of Rhode, a skincare and beauty brand she launched in 2022 and sold to e.l.f. Beauty in one of the largest celebrity beauty deals in recent memory. Before that, she built a substantial modeling career on her own, appearing in campaigns for Guess, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger, and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Art & Style category in 2023. She is married to singer Justin Bieber, with whom she shares a son.
Early Life and Family
Hailey Rhode Baldwin was born on November 22, 1996, in Tucson, Arizona, to actor Stephen Baldwin, the youngest of the Baldwin acting brothers, and Kennya Deodato, a Brazilian graphic designer whose father is the musician Eumir Deodato. That makes actors Alec, William, and Daniel Baldwin her uncles. She was named after Halley’s Comet. She has an older sister, Alaia Baldwin, also a model.
Bieber was homeschooled as a child and trained for years as a classically trained ballet dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, a path she pursued seriously until a foot injury in her late teens forced her to stop dancing, which redirected her toward modeling.
Modeling Career
Bieber signed with Ford Models in 2014 and quickly began appearing in publications including Tatler, LOVE, V, and i-D, with her first commercial campaign for French Connection that same winter. She made her runway debut in 2014, walking for Topshop and Sonia Rykiel. In 2016, she signed with IMG Models, which led to higher-profile campaigns, including becoming the first face of Levi’s 501 jeans in April 2019. She also branched into television, co-hosting the TBS rap battle show Drop the Mic with Method Man from 2017 to 2019, and has appeared in music videos, including Cody Simpson’s “On My Mind” and her husband’s “10,000 Hours.”
Founding Rhode
In the summer of 2022, Bieber launched Rhode, a direct-to-consumer skincare and hybrid makeup brand, alongside co-founders Michael D. Ratner and Lauren Ratner. According to Forbes, Bieber has said she created the brand out of frustration with an overwhelming skincare market, aiming for what she called “a very edited and curated, intentional shopping process.” The brand grew rapidly, generating $212 million in net sales in the twelve months ending March 2025, more than doubling its customer base over the prior year while operating with a deliberately narrow lineup of around ten products.
The e.l.f. Beauty Acquisition
In May 2025, e.l. f. Beauty announced a definitive agreement to acquire Rhode in a deal valued at up to $1 billion, structured as $800 million payable at closing in cash and stock, plus a potential additional $200 million earnout tied to Rhode’s performance over the following three years, according to e.l.f.’s own press release. e.l.f. Beauty CEO Tarang Amin told CNBC he had been “blown away” watching the brand grow from zero to $212 million in sales with only ten products, calling it “that level of disruption” that caught the company’s attention. As part of the deal, Bieber retained her role as founder and added the titles of Chief Creative Officer and Head of Innovation, overseeing creative direction, product development, and marketing, while Rhode expanded into physical retail through Sephora stores in North America and the UK.
The deal was widely reported as e.l.f. Beauty’s largest acquisition to date, and industry observers, including a Northeastern University cosmetics chemistry professor interviewed by Northeastern’s own news service, credited much of the brand’s high valuation to Bieber’s authenticity, community-building, and deliberate approach to product development rather than celebrity name recognition alone.
Public Image and Business Reputation
Bieber has said she wanted her modeling and business career to stand on its own rather than ride on her family name or her marriage, telling interviewers in past years that she works to be known for her own accomplishments. Her approach to Rhode, often described using the phrase “glazed skin” that circulated widely online, became closely associated with a minimalist, “clean girl” beauty aesthetic that resonated with a large social media following exceeding 55 million on Instagram.
Marriage and Family
Hailey and Justin Bieber first met in 2009, when Hailey’s father introduced them, and dated briefly from December 2015 to January 2016 before reconciling in 2018. They became engaged in July 2018 and confirmed their marriage that November, later holding a second, larger wedding ceremony in South Carolina in September 2019. The couple welcomed their first child, son Jack Blues Bieber, in August 2024.
Hailey has addressed persistent public speculation about the marriage directly in interviews, telling Vogue in a May 2025 profile, “I thought seven years in it would’ve already [died down], and it hasn’t… You would think after having a child, people would maybe move on, chill out a little bit.” She has also spoken about standing by Justin through difficult periods, telling interviewers she felt a responsibility not to abandon him “in the middle of the worst time of [his] life.”
Net Worth
Following the Rhode acquisition, published estimates of Hailey Bieber’s net worth increased substantially, though the exact figure is genuinely disputed across sources because her precise ownership stake in Rhode has not been publicly disclosed. Multiple outlets place her net worth in the range of $300 million to $433 million as of 2026, with the wide range reflecting uncertainty over her exact equity percentage, tax obligations, and how much of the deal’s $200 million earnout component Rhode ultimately achieves. A Fashionista analysis published shortly after the deal cautioned that despite social media claims she had become a billionaire, Bieber herself is very likely not a billionaire, since the $1 billion figure reflects the company’s total valuation rather than her personal payout, and she shares proceeds with her co-founders. Several outlets note that her estimated net worth now exceeds published estimates of her husband’s fortune, generally placed around $200 million.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hailey Bieber’s net worth? Published estimates generally range from $300 million to $433 million as of 2026, following the Rhode acquisition, though the exact figure depends on her undisclosed ownership stake and isn’t independently confirmed.
Is Hailey Bieber a billionaire? No. While Rhode was valued at up to $1 billion, that figure represents the company’s total valuation. Bieber’s personal payout, after accounting for her co-founders’ shares and taxes, is estimated well below that figure.
How much did e.l.f. Beauty pay for Rhode? The deal was valued at up to $1 billion: $800 million payable at closing in cash and stock, plus a potential $200 million earnout based on Rhode’s performance over three years.
Is Hailey Bieber still involved with Rhode after the sale? Yes. She retained her role as founder and took on the additional titles of Chief Creative Officer and Head of Innovation, continuing to oversee the brand’s creative direction and product development.
Are Hailey and Justin Bieber still married? Yes. They have been married since 2018 and share a son, Jack Blues, born in 2024, despite ongoing public speculation about their relationship that both have addressed directly in interviews.
Conclusion
Hailey Bieber’s story over the past several years traces an unusually complete arc: a modeling career built independently of her famous family and marriage, a beauty brand founded on a specific, disciplined vision, and a sale that reportedly made her wealthier, at least on paper, than her globally famous husband. Whatever the precise final number turns out to be once Rhode’s earnout period concludes, the Rhode deal itself, backed by real revenue figures and a public company’s own disclosures, is one of the more concretely documented business stories in celebrity entrepreneurship.
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