Selena Gomez is being sued by investors

Investors are suing Selena Gomez and the co-founders of her failed mental health startup, Wondermind. The lawsuit alleges the trio never delivered on promises to deliver an app, rapid growth, and access to Gomez’s massive social media audience of 500 million followers—all while concealing the company’s problems from investors.ICYMI: Gomez, her mother, Mandy Teefey, and entrepreneur Daniella Pierson founded Wondermind in November 2021. The company planned to build a virtual suite of mental health resources. In 2022, with a valuation of $95 million, it secured $5 million from investors, including Serena Williams’s investment firm.Sounds like the beginning of a love song, but…last August, Forbes published an article accusing Pierson of overpromising as an exec at a previous company. Then, The Cut reported in September that Wondermind was falling apart, claiming leadership was dysfunctional, employees weren’t being paid on time, and that Gomez was barely involved.The lawsuit similarly asserts that “Gomez purported to sign a contract obligating her to perform and then ignored it”—and alleges investors were kept in the dark until the media reports came out.Pierson, who reportedly left the company just a year after it started because of an “openly tense” relationship with Teefey, denies the suit’s allegations against her. Gomez, Teefey, and Wondermind have not publicly commented.—MM