She has become one of the biggest foodie influencers on social media, even touted as ‘the next Nigella’, with her enviable lifestyle of today contrasting starkly with a back story of a humble childhood on a council estate.

Emily English has grown an audience of nearly three million followers across TikTok and Instagram who devour her aesthetically pleasing but healthy recipe videos – and making her books number one bestsellers.

But the Daily Mail has learned that things perhaps weren’t quite as grim for 30-year-old Ms English when growing up as her followers may have hitherto believed.

She was educated, for example, at a £20,000-a-year private school and is the daughter of a successful graphic designer.

And while that council estate home did exist, her family actually moved out of it when Emily was just four years old, upgrading to an attractive Victorian townhouse that they still own.

Ms English came to public prominence five years ago, when the man who is now her husband encouraged her to start posting her nutrition-based food ideas during the pandemic.

This was the spark that ignited explosive success: her combination of a winning presenting style, good looks, academic insight into nutrition and attractive plates chimed with her burgeoning young audience.

Emily English has grown an audience of nearly three million followers across TikTok and Instagram who devour her aesthetically pleasing but healthy recipe videos

‘Em the Nutritionist’ built up a huge following of subscribers with her delicious recipes, and has spoken previously of her working-class roots

She speaks about her childhood spent on a council estate, but this attractive brick Victorian townhouse near Bedford – one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods – was the family home where she grew up

She was soon accruing tens of thousands of new followers every month – as well as endorsements from celebrity fans including model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and former Made In Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh.

Tatler called her ‘Gen-Z’s favourite It girl chef’ – quite a society accolade for a young woman who talks of humble origins – while The Times hailed her writing with the tribute: ‘Move over Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver.’

Ms English films recipe videos from her vast and expensively decorated Battersea flat where she lives with husband Aaron McFeely, 38.

It was his suggestion of her developing a TikTok career which would transform his future wife’s profile. But it was at that point very much a professional relationship: the pair had met when he signed her on as a client to his marketing business during lockdown.

And as her presenting career took off so did their romance.

By the time they married in 2024 – in an intimate ceremony at the historic Fulham Palace – she was a big enough name for the event to be covered in Vogue.

‘After the service, we had a champagne ceremony in the palace courtyard before hopping into a vintage Rolls-Royce, which whisked us away to lunch in the conservatory at Daphne’s,’ Emily told the fashion magazine.

She has characterised the appeal of her cooking and nutrition advice as self-evident: ‘When people can’t distinctly say what it is about my food that they like, that’s because it’s normal.

‘It’s, like, why do you like a sunny day with a blue sky? Well, because it’s sunny and blue and lovely. I just tapped into this normality.’

Ms English’s regularly updated Instagram account reveals an enviable lifestyle – but with the accent always on wellness.

The influencer starts her day at 5am by eating a handful of kiwi slices, blackberries and figs, while brewing some chia seed-infused water and taking her supplements.

She preps all of her breakfasts for the week before a long and complex skincare routine, including a facial massage. Then she does her daily morning exercise at 6.30 – either a walk to help hit her target of 20,000 steps a day or a class at the Karve Pilates studio in Kensington, where membership costs as much as £2,000 a year.

Ms English then enjoys a cup of freshly brewed matcha tea before selecting an outfit from her walk-in wardrobe.

It seems she rarely shoots a video in the Le Creuset-filled kitchen of her £750,000 flat without a blow dry, glowing skin and a chic outfit, which seems at odds with the food preparation that follows.

Recently posted videos have seen Emily assemble meals such as ‘skin glow mackerel protein toasts’, an antioxidant breakfast ‘crumble’ and a chocolate mousse made with banana and tofu.

Ms English has translated her online success into book sales too, with both last year’s So Good cookbook and this year’s follow-up, Live To Eat, both hitting the top spot on the Sunday Times bestsellers list.

Ms English films recipe videos from her vast and expensively decorated Battersea flat, where she lives with husband Aaron McFeely

Tatler called her ‘Gen-Z’s favourite It girl chef’ – quite a society accolade for a young woman who talks of humble origins

Emily’s Instagram page is full of pictures of dishes she has made, with her army of followers devouring every post

The celebrity nutritionist has also founded her own company, called Epetome, to sell probiotics products promising ‘targeted delivery of ingredients within the guts, where microbiome thrives’, with a ‘unique capsule-in-capsule design’.

And the scale of her platform means she is also in demand for online product endorsements and guest appearances – lately she has been promoting luxury hair and beauty brands.

Emily’s weekends, meanwhile, are often taken up with visits to high status venues in town or country, including Babington House in Somerset or Claridge’s or The Ritz in London.

Then there are her glamorous European trips, most recently flying her whole family to an Italian villa for a week over Christmas.

All of which would suggest that her current lifestyle is a stark contrast to what we know from her public statements of her childhood and its relative austerity.

She, for example, told Women’s Health: ‘I grew up on a council estate.’

And she went described how she grew up in modest circumstances, as the second of five siblings to a working-class family ‘not necessarily in the easiest financial situation’.

Emily’s family moved out of their council estate home when she was just four years old

She has also insisted she was not ‘silver spoon-fed’. But Ms English was educated alongside a peer group who arguably were familiar with silver spoons, attending the nearly £20,000-a-year Bedford Girls’ School, which has first-rate facilities including a 20-metre heated indoor pool, fitness centre, boathouse, astro pitches and tennis courts.

It’s understood that she was in state schools to the age of 16 and was accepted to study at Bedford on a bursary for talented students – meaning she was not required to pay fees.

Ms English, who has since been invited back to her school to give an inspiring talk, took a fashionable International Baccalaureate rather than A-levels.

Meanwhile her father, Christos English, was growing his own design firm, Ensign, whose clients have included David Lloyd Leisure. When it opened a new business premise last year, the town’s mayor described the business as ‘a real Bedford success story’ when he visited to cut the ribbon.

When Emily was born her parents were indeed living in a modest council house in Garden Close in Bedford. But in 1999, Mr English bought a handsome late 19th century red-brick semi on a leafy suburb street of Bedford. The house, which has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, has since been extended and is valued at around £350,000.

Emily’s weekends are often taken up with visits to high-status venues in town or in the country, including Babington House in Somerset or Claridge’s or The Ritz in London

Emily came to public prominence five years ago, when the man who is now her husband encouraged her to start posting her nutrition-based food ideas during the pandemic

Ms English has described how the family’s humble resources meant she was expected to step up to help her mother run the household from as early as the age of nine – because she had three demanding younger siblings.

She would plan and order the weekly Tesco food shop and carry out the ‘gargantuan military operation’ of making dinners such as chilli con carne for her family of seven.

‘I’m financially sensible because I come from a massive family and not a lot of money,’ she would say in the interview that accompanied her Women’s Health cover star shoot last year.

‘It’s why I’m a pro at chilli con carne and, if the fridge is empty, watch me rustle up something from nothing. Because that was my job.’

She continued: ‘When I look back – oh my goodness, I was young. But it was great training.’

By 15, as well as her school work and domestic duties, she was also working Saturday nights for £5-an-hour waiting tables or prepping food at the local restaurant where her grandmother Janet – ‘an absolute boss’ – was head chef.

Then her life changed when she was scouted as a model while hanging out at a local music festival. Soon she would be working for high street brands such as Debenhams and Accessorize and then became the first in-house model for fashion giant Asos.

But the pressures of the modelling industry saw her develop an eating disorder, which she explained left her so hungry and exhausted at times she was unable to walk.

Read More

It’s karma… 40 years ago my son trashed our house with a party. Now HIS kids have done the same!

Her recovery inspired an interest in nutrition – and she decided to quit the catwalk and returned to education. She got a place to study nutrition science at the prestigious King’s College London, which is how she came to be writing her famous recipes.

Meanwhile, although it’s widely reported by outlets selling her books that she’s a ‘registered’ nutritionist, she is not on any professional register that we have been able to find. 

Being recognised as a nutritionist in the UK carries a low threshold not akin to medical qualifications – in fact you can use the term legitimately as long as you have studied the subject to degree level.

And registering with the professional body, The UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists (UKVRN), as its name suggests, is voluntary and simply requires applicants to meet that academic standard and to have ‘demonstrable experience of degree-level, evidence-based practice in a specialist area of nutrition competency’.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘I grew up on Hill Grounds council estate and later attended a private school after being awarded a full academic scholarship on merit. I have never suggested otherwise.

‘At the time my father was building his business; it became financially successful only in later years.’

After starting out as a model, Emily decided to quit the catwalk and return to education

Ms English has described how her family’s humble resources meant she was expected to step up to help her mother run the household from as early as the age of nine

A spokesman for Emily said: ‘Emily has a BSc in Nutrition and therefore can legitimately describe herself as a nutritionist.

‘Her Facebook page [where she is described as ‘registered’] is not live and is actually in the process of being taken down. It dates back six years ago – at which point Emily WAS registered.’

‘The registers are voluntary and subscription based. There is no legal requirement whatsoever for an individual to be on the register in order to practice or to use the title “nutritionist” in the UK.

‘This is not a protected professional title. The work Emily does in helping her community to make healthier choices does not require this.

‘Emily was the guest of honour for the most recent graduation ceremony at King’s College London for the faculty of life sciences and medicine at her university.

‘She is a reputable, hardworking person who is completely honest with her community online.’

A spokesman for her former school confirmed Emily had been awarded an academic bursary award to study there, and said: ‘Emily was a delightful and hardworking student and we are very proud of her success.’