Inside Elle Macpherson’s quirky world – including her romance with Andrew Wakefield

She may still possess the girl-next-door charm that earned her fame in the 1980s and ’90s, but Elle Macpherson’s world looks very different these days.

The 56-year-old supermodel, who was known as ‘The Body’ at the height of her runway career, has fashioned herself into a high-powered wellness guru whose love for quirky beauty treatments rivals that of Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow.

Daily Mail Australia takes a look inside Elle’s lifestyle – including her romance with a disgraced anti-vaxxer and her unconventional health advice.

Quirky wellness treatments   

Elle says her ageless physique is the result of a plethora of ‘wellness’ treatments.

One of her favourites is manual lymphatic drainage massage, which she claims helps her maintain the flattest stomach possible. 

Lymphatic drainage is a rhythmical massage treatment performed to stimulate the circulation of lymph fluid around the body. 

Demonstrating the effectiveness of the procedure last October, Miami-based Elle uploaded before-and-after photos to Instagram, one of which showed her reclining on a bed with her already-taut tummy exposed. 

Two after shots showed Elle’s stomach looking less bloated and visibly flatter, with not an inch to pinch.

The procedure, which Elle recently described as a ‘wellness hack’, purportedly speeds up the removal of wastes and toxins from the lymphatic system. 

In June, the mother of two proselytised on Instagram about the benefits of a bubble machine – or ‘personal ozone device’.

The Thera03 Bubbler claims to ‘sanitise all of your food sources by simply bubbling the low gamma O3 into your kitchen sink filled with tap water’.

In March, Elle also enjoyed a ‘detox’ in a portable infrared sauna by the same manufacturer, posting pictures of herself while zipped inside the sauna ‘bag’.

She has also had a ‘holistic sound acupuncture facial’, which has been touted as a ‘natural alternative to Botox’.

Meanwhile, Elle has been singing the praises of Dr Will Cole, a ‘ketotarian’ based in Pittsburgh who is not a medical doctor but has a doctorate after studying nutrition.

Dr Cole is a fan of fecal microbiota treatment – or human waste transplant – which he claims can ‘balance the immune system’ and treat obesity. 

Cashing in on the supplement craze

Elle is the co-founder and creative director of the company WelleCo, which sells ‘alkalising’ nutritional supplements.

She claims that the body works ‘optimally’ when the pH of blood is slightly alkaline, and carries a urine kit in her handbag so that she can check her pee at any time.

Scientists often decry the fad of ‘eating alkaline’, blasting the craze as pointless and based on junk science.

Cancer Research UK notes that the pH balance of blood is tightly regulated by the kidneys and cannot be changed for any meaningful amount of time by what is eaten.

All that can be changed is the acidity of your urine.

In February, Elle’s launched her ‘Super Booster’ supplement range, which claims to assist the libido.

While Elle told her Instagram followers that the Super Booster ‘really works’, the product has a caveat which states: ‘If symptoms persist, talk to your health professional. Supplements may only be of assistance if dietary intake is inadequate.’

Elle’s ugly vitamin war

The concept of WelleCo was hatched in a garage in Peppermint Grove in Perth, Australia, by Elle’s friend Andrea Horwood.

Horwood gave Elle an initial 50 per cent share in the ‘powdered green goods’ business in return for the supermodel promoting it.

The business prospered, and WelleCo went on to become worth about $30million. 

However, last year it emerged that Horwood was suing Elle’s private company Rolico, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands tax haven. 

Horwood said that Elle and her investors reneged on a deal to allow her to buy more of the company, then sacked her and locked her out of her own office.

The West Australian Supreme Court pushed the parties into mediation, telling them they had two options: the company could be wound up, or Horwood’s shareholding could be purchased.

Romance with a disgraced anti-vaxxer doctor

In 2017, Elle started dating Andrew Wakefield, the fraudster who falsely claimed that the MMR vaccine causes autism.

The discredited former doctor was struck off the British medical register in 2010 for unethical behaviour and misconduct.

He then moved to America, where he is lionised in certain anti-vaxxer circles – Donald Trump and Robert De Niro are among his fans – with his wife, Carmel, and their four children.

He and Carmel, who settled in Austin, Texas, are said to have separated in early 2017. In November that year, he met Elle at a ‘Doctors Who Rock’ awards ceremony in Orlando, Florida.