‘Only Murders in the Building’ Star Selena Gomez Hit with Fraud Lawsuit over Mental Health Startup Wondermind — Here’s What Investors Are Alleging

Selena Gomez has built an empire well beyond acting and music, expanding her brand into beauty with Rare Beauty and wellness with Wondermind, the mental fitness platform she co-founded back in 2021. For years, that startup was positioned as one of her most personal ventures, tied directly to her own public advocacy around mental health.

That carefully cultivated image is now facing a serious legal challenge. Investors who poured money into the company are accusing Gomez, her mother, and a former business partner of misrepresenting the startup’s success for years while it quietly fell apart behind the scenes.

According to a federal lawsuit filed in Delaware on Thursday, five investors say they put nearly $1.2 million into Wondermind Global in 2022, believing Gomez would be “intimately involved” in building the company using her massive social media following of more than 500 million followers. The complaint alleges that Gomez, her mother Mandy Teefey, and co-founder Daniella Pierson instead let the business collapse while concealing that reality from the people funding it.

The lawsuit paints a stark picture of the company’s internal breakdown. “The partnerships did not exist. The initiatives never materialized. The app was never built,” the complaint states. “And for three years, while the Company quietly collapsed around them, not one of its founders, officers, or directors said a word to the investors whose money was funding the collapse.”

Wondermind was launched in November 2021, with Gomez listed as co-founder, chief impact officer, and head of marketing. The company reportedly told investors it carried a $95 million valuation in 2022, with promises of corporate partnerships, advertising deals, and celebrity cover stories that the lawsuit claims never materialized.

Much of what investors say they didn’t know traces back to a September 2025 exposé in The Cut, which reported that a falling-out between Pierson and Teefey pushed Pierson out of the company in early 2023. That same report also detailed allegations of dysfunction within Wondermind’s leadership, including claims about Teefey’s conduct at the company’s West Hollywood offices.

The lawsuit also draws on separate Forbes reporting that found Pierson had allegedly exaggerated the readership and valuation of her own newsletter business, with the complaint claiming Teefey later told investors that Pierson had “misappropriated investor funds” following that report’s publication. Pierson has denied those allegations, stating she welcomes the chance to present documentation and financial records to establish the facts, and maintaining she never used investor money for personal expenses.

The securities fraud claims allege multiple misrepresentations throughout Wondermind’s history, including about Gomez’s level of involvement, Pierson’s business acumen, and Teefey’s fitness to serve in a leadership role at the company. Together, Gomez, Teefey, and Pierson reportedly owned close to 90 percent of Wondermind’s shares.

As of this reporting, representatives for Gomez, Teefey, and the Wondermind brand have not responded to requests for comment from multiple outlets covering the story. The plaintiffs are seeking to recoup their original investments along with legal fees tied to the case.

This isn’t Gomez’s first high-profile business venture to draw major headlines, though it marks one of the more serious legal challenges she’s faced tied specifically to her entrepreneurial work. With Rare Beauty having become a genuine commercial success story, the fraud allegations surrounding Wondermind stand in sharp contrast to the polished business image she’s cultivated in recent years.

The case is still in its early stages, and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

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