Photo: Instagram
She's already a millionaire business mogul, but not everyone is celebrating her achievements.
By John Sundholm — Written on Apr 09, 2023
Social media is a powerful tool—so much so that it's turned an Australian tween into a multi-millionaire business mogul at an age when most of us were still watching cartoons. At just 11, she's basically set for life—but some wonder if that's appropriate for a kid who's so young.
11-year-old millionaire influencer Pixie Curtis has earned more than $21 million from selling toys and hair accessories.
She's both a "businesswoman and a business, woman" as Nicki Minaj once put it, and her runaway success has won her legions of fans online. Along with her little brother, Hunter, she enjoys the sort of high-flying life most of us can only dream of, jet-setting to tropical vacations and accompanying her mother, Australian publicist and businesswoman Roxy Jacenko, 43, to red carpet events.
Pixie Curtis' mom has said she'll be able to 'retire' by the age of 15 after making so much money selling hair bows, toy putty and fidget spinners.
Curtis has leveraged her and her mother's fame—not to mention the infamy of her Bitcoin investor and stockbroker father Oliver Curtis, who was sent to prison for insider trading in 2016—to launch several of her own product lines.
Her parents helped her start a fidget spinner business during the pandemic, which is reportedly pulling in $130,000 a month for the little girl—that alone is enough to make her an 11-year-old millionaire several times over.
But Curtis also has a wildly popular line of hair accessories for girls called Pixie's Bows that is featured in Australia's largest chain of department stores, Myer, and she has branched further into the toy business with lines of toy putty and slime for kids.
And here we were thinking our childhood lemonade stands and Girl Scout cookies were some kind of achievement!
Pixie Curtis regularly documents the upscale lifestyle her 11-year-old millionaire status affords on her Instagram.
Much like her glamorous mom, Curtis loves a good day of shopping and regularly shares her shopping hauls in videos on Instagram. Most recently, she shared her haul from her "Sunday shop" which includes high-end cosmetics, clothes and skincare products.
Curtis filmed herself pulling multiple items from various shopping bags, including a pack of Too Faced "lip injection" plumping gloss and a bronzing stick from cosmetics company Mecca Max. She also showed off a bottle of Sol de Janeiro perfume and two candles by luxury brand Byredo—which cost $94 each.
But the most cherished item she bought on her "Sunday shop" was a pair of boots from the iconic Australian brand Ugg which run $140—and which she'll of course grow out of in six months tops.
Curtis has sparked backlash online from people who say she's too young for her lifestyle and her mother should be letting her be a kid.
"Why does an 11-year-old need 'lip injection plumper?'" one Instagram user demanded. "This girl's going to need a lot of therapy when she's older." Another subtly shaded Jacenko for allowing her daughter to purchase cosmetics specifically designed to "correct" her appearance at such a young age. "I’m not sure why you or whoever drove you to the store feel you need to cover up your delightful face with make up."
Others challenged Curtis to do more with her wealth than simply go shopping.
"I have a great idea," one user wrote. "Drive to your local kids' hospital at Randwick and spend the day with kids less fortunate." The Instagrammer went on to urge Curtis to "appreciate what you have."
Curtis' shopping haul is not the first time she's sparked outrage. In 2022, her lavish $40,000 birthday sparked so much backlash that Jacenko went on the Australian morning show "Today" to defend the bash.
"Everyone's going to have an opinion," Jacenko told the "Today" hosts. "The reality is... we're here for a short time, and I want to make sure that my children have the best opportunities they can, and if we can afford to do it whilst also being charitable... I think there's nothing wrong with that."
One person on Instagram defended Curtis on similar grounds. "I’m struggling to understand why grown women are making negative comments on a young girl's post," one user wrote. "She is a young girl who’s finding her way in this big hard world, making judgments isn’t doing anyone any good."
Hopefully, Curtis has room to just be a kid in between being a multi-millionaire business mogul. Her mother said it best—we're only here for a short time.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.