Exclusive | How Tanya Zuckerbrot lost her $40M diet empire to one troll, and the six year fight for justice

How does a fashion influencer with no medical or nutrition qualifications bring down a $40 million diet empire, with only a phone?Emily Gellis managed to do just that after accusing F-Factor dieting guru Tanya Zuckerbrot of poisoning people — while subjecting her to years of relentless online attacks, calling her the “scum of the earth”.The health and wellness business Zuckerbrot had spent 25 years building, drawing in New York’s elite and a celebrity clientele, was effectively destroyed.Now, after a six-year legal battle, Gellis, 40, has finally agreed to publicly apologize and pay Zuckerbrot $240,000, according to publicly available New York court transcripts.“You don’t understand what I lived with,” Zuckerbrot, 55, said of the witch hunt.“People watched my life being destroyed — to them, it was entertainment.

But this isn’t gossip, it’s my life.”Aside from her allegations about Zuckerbrot’s products, Gellis accused the mom-of-five of using drugs, failing to pay taxes and engaging in criminal activity — all of which was untrue.She told her Instagram followers, who now number 185,000, that Zuckerbrot was a “powder-pushing, money-hungry, disgusting, gaslighting, greedy woman”, who ran a “cult-like” operation.Zuckerbrot said Gellis ultimately posted more than 50,000 videos about her and F-Factor.“You can’t imagine what it feels like to be hunted,” she said.“I couldn’t leave the house.

I would have panic attacks in the supermarket.I thought the world was believing what was being written about me.”The registered dietitian said she lost millions in business and ultimately spent more than $1 million on lawyers fighting back.But the toll went far beyond money, as Zuckerbrot admitted the campaign left her suicidal.

“I lived with a cyber stalker,” she said.It all started in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, when Gellis — who dubbed herself an “accidental activist” — began publicizing anonymous testimonials...