Chiara Ferragni Is Having a Very Bad Year

Since launching her blog in 2009, Italian model and social media personality Chiara Ferragni has steadily built a huge dedicated following, elevated herself within Italy as a cultural icon, and captured the attention of international media and fans. Her glamorous lifestyle, modeling career, and seemingly perfect relationship with Italian rapper Fedez have made her a beloved figure on social media and compelled fans to support her, whether they're clicking the like button on her latest Instagram post or buying a pair of shoes from her latest collaborative line. 

Thanks to a collaborative shoe line with Steve Madden—which grossed over $8 million—ad campaigns with brands like Guess, cover shoots on countless globally renowned fashion publications, a burgeoning fashion design portfolio, and an engaged online fanbase, Ferragni has become one of the most successful fashion influencers of the past decade. Although her fans have historically been committed to supporting Ferragni's ventures within the fashion sphere, her home life generates even more interest. Ferragni has meticulously cultivated her family's image in the public eye—from her envy-worthy marriage to her longtime lover to her two young children, even down to the family's adorable dog. 

Ferragni and Fedez, an Italian musician and mogul, began dating in 2016 and were quickly elevated to power couple status in the eyes of global social media followers and Italian fans alike. In 2018, the couple married in a dreamy, romantic ceremony in Sicily. Ferragni and Fedez share two young children together—Leone, 5, and Vittoria, 2. 

While everything appeared to be perfect on social media, in 2022, cracks began to surface in the couple's relationship. Ferragni co-hosted the San Remo Music Festival, which she attended with her husband. Tensions broke out when Fedez publically kissed rapper Rosa Chemical, and footage of Ferragni arguing with her husband after the exchange went viral on Italian media networks. 

While this incident was reportedly a serious issue between the pair, Ferragni and Fedez put their differences aside momentarily after Fedez was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and began suffering from a myriad of health issues. As of late 2023 to early 2024, Fedez has made a recovery.

In late 2023, Ferragni announced a collaboration with the Italian food brand Balocco and the subsequent launch of a line of her own branded pandoro cakes—an Italian Christmas confectionary tradition. The Ferragni-branded pandoro cakes sold at over 9 euros for their retail price, while typical Balocco pandoro products barely reached 4. Ferragni's reasoning behind the price differentiation? Profits were intended to benefit bone cancer research at a Turin children's hospital.

Not long after the campaign began, Ferragni was fined over 1 million euros for unfair and misleading commercial practices. After investigation, the anti-trust authority found that no profits gained subsequent to the sales of the products were donated to the hospital. Instead, Ferragni reportedly donated 50,000 euro prior to the start of the campaign, with no further payments—even after earning over 1 million euros for the branding and promotional collaboration. The scandal rocked Italian media, and the influencer quickly became the subject of widespread backlash, with fans shocked at her duplicity and misinformation. Following the massive wave of hate, Ferragni posted an apology on Instagram, but the influencer's response was poorly received by followers. 

The intensely public scandal and subsequent legal issues reportedly led to further strife between Ferragni and her husband, and in February 2024, Italian media outlets reported that the couple had split up and were headed for divorce. 

After Fedez moved out of the family home, jetting off to Miami, and the couple reportedly began proceeding forward with divorce, fans have speculated how the separation between the two will play out. Some suspect more time in court for Fedez and Ferragni—over child support and the separation of assets, of course—while others expect that the divorce will take place privately behind closed doors. One thing on fans' minds right now? The former couple are supposedly still wearing their wedding rings, prompting widespread speculation about whether the divorce is real, or whether all the drama is a ploy for sympathy amid "pandoro-gate."