Despite being one of the most recognisable faces in the world of self-help, Jay Shetty’s story from troubled schoolboy to friend-to-the stars is not known by everyone.

The 37-year-old is not just a presence on TikTok (where he has some 4.8 million followers) he is also a podcaster, author, life coach and ex-monk.

As well as writing the 2020 bestselling book Think Like A Monk, he has hosted A-listers including Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez on his podcast, On Purpose.

Jay, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife Radhi Devlukia Shetty, even officiated J.Lo’s ill-fated 2022 wedding to Ben Affleck.

He didn’t always live in sun-soaked California though: Jay was born and raised in London to non-practising Hindus, where he went to Queen Elizabeth’s School in Barnet.

According to some reports, he had a lightly rebellious childhood where he ‘experimented with drugs, fighting and drinking too much.’ 

He told The Guardian in 2020: ‘I was lost at that time; I really didn’t know what I valued. The troublemaking wasn’t fun – it was full of fear and guilt.’ 

What could perhaps be seen as a key turning point in his life came when he was just 10-years-old, and his father started to experiment with different types of spirituality after growing disenchanted with his job in the city. 

The 34-year-old was born and raised in London, where he had a rebellious childhood having been suspended from school three times and threatened with expulsion 

After being inspired by a talk at university, Jay moved to a monastery in India where he spent his days meditating  

Shetty has since said it was this moment which planted the seeds of interest for his alternative lifestyle. 

However, he continued his rebellious stage as a teen, was suspended from school three times, and threatened with expulsion. 

But when he was 18, he made a major life change, and gave up drinking, explaining in one interview that he ‘didn’t enjoy the way I behaved when I was drunk’.

He said: ‘I think I used to drink only out of ego and competition with drinking games and all that kind of stuff.’

He has previously said he was ‘following the usual path’ with plans to graduate from university and pursue a corporate career in finance.

But more change was yet to come.

Jay Shetty (pictured, centre) has made a number of A-list friends, including actor Will Smith (pictured, left) and Jada Pinkett Smith (pictured, right)

Gwyneth Paltrow (pictured, speaking at In goop Health Summit in 2021) is also one of Jay Shetty’s A-list fans

When Shetty was 21-years-old, he first heard a monk speak while he was attending Cass Business School in London.

Monk Gauranga Das was invited to the school to speak on selflessness and living a minimalist lifestyle.

Musing on the experience in his book Think Like a Monk, Shetty later wrote: ‘That night, as I listened to the monk talk about his experience, I fell in love.’ 

And he didn’t just stop at listening to the monk’s talk: he spoke to Gauranga after the event, and then followed him for the remainder of Gauranga’s lecture circuit around the United Kingdom.

His life changed radically, and Shetty then spent his half of his Summer holidays over the next three years working for large financial firms and the other half living as a monk in India.

Despite graduating with a 1st class BSc (Hons) Degree in Behavioural Science from the business school, after three years of mixing finance and living as a monk, Shetty made the decision to live full-time as a monk. He was 22-years-old when he made this decision. 

He would spend the next three years living with monks, waking at 4am to meditate for four-eight hours, and also studied timeless wisdom, serving others in nearby communities.

As part of living as a monk, Shetty shaved off his hair, abandoned his belongings and slept on the floor. He also studied ancient Indian scriptures as well as meditating for hours each day.

In 2020, Jay Shetty published his book Think Like a Monk, which became a bestseller, with many fans of the tome

Jay Shetty (pictured) has won awards for his On Purpose podcast, which has featured a range of celebrity guests 

He become a close friend of Jennifer Lopez having hosted her on his ‘On Purpose’ podcast (pictured, speaking to one another) 

Following his three years at the monastery, Shetty returned to London, where he moved back in with his parents.

He stopped being a monk, and instead worked in the City. 

While doing this, he launched his career as a motivational speaker and life coach. 

Although it sounds like he was being proactive while undertaking a variety of activities, it later emerged that Shetty was not happy at this time.

In fact, he has described it as one of the worst periods of his life, and called it the closest he had ever felt to being depressed. 

The content he was producing included lessons he shared on social media about mental health and life purpose, saying the methods he picked up [had] been ‘massively beneficial at mastering the mind’.

It was around 2016 that Shetty had what could be described as his big break, when Arianna Huffington spotted one of his motivational talks and gave him a spirituality show on HuffPo.

The same year, he married his wife Radhi Devlukia-Shetty and the two moved to the US, filming videos for social media on relationships, wellness and mental health.

After seeing a monk give a lecture at his business school, Jay Shetty abandoned his career to move to Mumbai to live as a monk for several years

Jennifer Lopez (pictured, right) is among the multiple  A-list friends of Jay Shetty (pictured, left)

Things were yet to get better for Shetty: in 2017, he hit international headlines when he was listed under Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

The monk who inspired Jay Shetty to abandon his City career for life in a monastery in India  

Gauranga Das, 51, was born and brought up in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh in 1971

Gauranga Das, 51, was born and brought up in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh in 1971.

He was an Engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. 

While in Bombay, he was drawn towards Lord Krishna and began visiting the temple regularly.

His life changed when he was in college, and one of his friends attempted suicide. 

In 1993, he joined the temple and began training as a monk. 

He started an eco-village in 2005 with 5 humans and 8 castles.

He hoped ‘to build living spaces, not buildings’, ‘to build home not house’, ‘to make people healthier not a doctor’. 

He has since launched a number of books, including The Art of Focus and The Art of Resilience. 

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And by 2018, one of his videos was the most viewed on Facebook.  

He now has 4.8 million subscribers on YouTube, 16.3 million on Instagram and a Facebook audience for videos of 28 million. 

His book How to Think Like a Monk, which was released in 2020, was also a bestseller. It offers advice on reducing stress and improving focus, based on Shetty’s experiences from the ashram. 

In 2020, Shetty told Good Morning Britain that his time living as a Vedic monk at an ashram in Mumbai taught him ‘thankfulness, inspiration, meditation and exercise’ are the cornerstones of a happy life.

‘You definitely don’t need to live like a monk to think like a monk,’ he said. ‘Four habits that I think are truly integral to monk life and the path that really help are; thankfulness, inspiration, meditation and exercise.’

Then in a 2021 interview, Shetty said he never expected the job to become a full time career, telling Eastern Eye: ‘I thought I would make videos in the evenings and weekends, go to my day job and do this as a hobby on the side because I loved and believed in it. 

He said that gratitude is a ‘huge practise’ in everyday life, and advised finding ‘one person a day in your life’ to be thankful to, which will ‘transform how you feel’.

Explaining how to seek inspiration daily he went on: ‘Waking up and seeking inspiration in the morning, most of us pick up our phones, 80 per cent of us pick up our phones before we see our partner or our kids.

‘Actually if we can switch that for a quote we like, a song we love, a piece of art in the morning the first piece of insight you consume in the morning is so important for your mind.

‘Meditation may sound daunting, it may sound difficult and tricky, but really it starts with just scheduling some time for yourself in your diary, so you can spend a little bit of time and check in with yourself. We check in with family and friends, but rarely do we check in with how we feel.

‘Exercise we hear about it all the time, movement – whether it’s yoga or a virtual work out or going on a run – the idea of movement is so powerful for the mind.’

While it was reported that earlier in the 2020s that Shetty still visited the monastery, it is currently not confirmed whether he has been this year.

In the past though, he has revealed that while many of the monks were unaware of his current occupation, those who did know are ‘wonderfully encouraging’.

‘Most of them have no idea of what I actually do,’ said Jay. ‘They’re not connected to social media.

‘But the ones who do understand are so wonderfully encouraging and very happy and supportive of the fact that I’m able to share some of these ideas out there and messages.’

After leaving the monastery, Jay returned to London, moved back in with his parents and stopped being a monk (pictured, with his mother) 

‘If you ask my parents they will definitely tell you I thought I was going to do it forever,’ he said. ‘That was the decision I had made and that came with a lot of challenges and negativity.

‘I heard a lot of people say “Jay how will you get a job again and reintegrate”, but I was so focused on the path and dedicated to it. 

‘But I really found those three years were like going to school and almost since leaving trying to apply those principles in the world has been the test, the exam.

‘And the methods, the techniques I learned in those years have been massively beneficial at mastering the mind and training my own self to deal with what comes to us in the real world.’

On top of his career success, in recent years, Shetty has become friends with a number of A-listers.

Among them are Jennifer Lopez, who appeared on his award-winning On Purpose podcast, and whose 2022 wedding to Ben Affleck he officiated.  

In January 2021, he joined Jennifer for the debut episode of ‘Coach Conversations’, a monthly YouTube series.

In 2016, he married his wife Radhi Devlukia-Shetty and the two moved to the US, filming videos for social media on relationships, wellness and mental health (pictured) 

In the first episode titled ‘What’s Your Calling?,’ Jay and J.Lo’s conversation touched on themes such as finding your purpose, the difference between a ‘calling’ and a ‘career,’ and why striving for your best makes all the difference.

In February, Jennifer invited him to officiate four weddings that she organised as part of a PR stunt for her latest movie Marry Me.

At the time, he penned on social media: ‘When Jennifer Lopez asks you to officiate 4 weddings and speak on the power of love during her ‘Marry Me’ Special Performance you say yes.

‘What an incredible experience it was seeing 4 beautiful couples take their vows and having Jennifer Lopez and Maluma as their wedding singers! Their stories and journeys brought tears to everyone’s eyes and I’m so grateful I got to be a part of it.’

In addition, other stars such as Alicia Keys, Khloe Kardashian, and Kobe Bryant have appeared on his show, resulting in 64 million downloads.

Shetty previously officiated Lily Collins and director Charlie McDowell’s wedding in Colorado September in 2021.

He continues to interview celebrities on his podcast, with Selena Gomez and her fiancé Benny Blanco recently getting personal about their love story while promoting their new album I Said I Love You First.

During their hour-plus sit-down with the former monk, the 37-year-old music producer revealed that before he and Selena, 32, established a spark he tried to hook her up with a friend.

‘I thought she hated me,’ Benny confessed. ‘Obviously, 99 per cent of it was in my head.’

He shared, ‘I was talking to her and said, ‘Oh my God, I have so many good single guy friends… We have dinners at the house all the time. You should come over sometime.”

Blanco, whose real name is Benjamin Levin, added about when they were planning their earliest hang out, ‘I wasn’t even thinking about anything [romantically with Selena] and we’re talking about our ideal date and this and that.’ 

In February the lovestruck pair delighted fans as they announced their joint music project. 

Selena Gomez and her fiance Benny Blanco recently appeared on Jay Shetty’s podcast On Purpose 

Gomez wrote in an Instagram caption, ‘My NEW album I Said I Love You First, with my best friend @bennyblanco, is out on 3/21.’

The note continued, ‘Our first song, Scared of Loving You, is out now on all streaming platforms. Merchandise and signed products for the album are available for pre-order now. We can’t wait to share this special project with you soon!’

At the time, Blanco joined in the comments to write, ‘i love you baby,’ collecting tens of thousands of likes within hours.

He and the former child star went public with their romance in late 2023, after they had been secretly dating for six months.

About a year later they announced their plans to get married and subsequently purchased a multi-million-dollar home in Los Angeles.