On 20 August 2022, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married at Affleck’s 87-acre countryside estate in Savannah, Georgia. The nuptials were the closest thing the US had to a royal wedding: two A-list actors reunited after years apart. It was the kind of storybook ending you might see in a J.Lo romcom.
Presiding over it all was Jay Shetty, the former Hindu monk who’s become a one-man self-help empire. Shetty and Lopez connected in January 2021 on the YouTube show Coach Conversations, a sponsored series produced by the handbag brand. Lopez grew so enamored of Shetty she invited him to officiate the ceremony.
The wedding was a coronation for Shetty, who loved reading celebrity autobiographies growing up as a British Indian in north London. He was now accepted into Hollywood’s innermost circles as a celebrity in his own right. His On Purpose podcast, among the top 10 most-subscribed-to in the US last year, has featured a litany of high-profile guests including Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian and Matt Damon, as well as Kobe Bryant, who gave one of his last interviews before his tragic death. Shetty has written two bestsellers: Think Like a Monk, a 2020 memoir/self-help guidebook based on his time studying Hinduism, and 2023’s 8 Rules of Love, for helping people better maneuver their romantic relationships. Calm, the meditation startup worth a reported $2bn, has given Shetty the title of chief inspiration officer. Shetty also has a life-coaching business, the Jay Shetty Certification School, where students pay thousands of dollars to learn the Jay Shetty discipline. He has 14 million followers on Instagram and 6 million across his two YouTube channels.
