How Did Julia Haart Make Her Money? ‘My Unorthodox Life’ Star’s Career

My Unorthodox Life viewers see her lavish lifestyle on the Netflix reality show, but how did Julia Haart make her money?

Haart’s journey to fame and fortune started in 2013, when she left the orthodox Jewish community she had called home for most of her life. “I was 43 and knew nothing about the world,” she told People earlier this year, recalling that precipitous moment in her life. “I felt like a martian.”

Less than a decade later, Haart became the head of Elite World Group, billed as the world’s first talent media company. Haart's net worth quickly rose to $600 million in 2021, a source told Women’s Health. In 2023, her net worth is still estimated to be around the same minus the lawyer fees she insured fighting the lawsuit her estranged husband filed (and later dropped) against her.

Here are details about Haart’s career trajectory and net worth so far.

Haart founded shoe company Julia Haart Inc., in 2013, with a goal to create shoes both stylish and comfortable, according to Forbes.

“It didn’t occur to me that it’s strange to start a shoe brand when you’ve never made a shoe,” she explained to People. “You don’t know what you’re capable of until you get up and try.”

After collaborating with La Perla on its accessory collections, Haart became the Italian luxury brand’s creative director in 2016. She immediately focused on a ready-to-wear collection. Haart explained that she wanted to bring “something newer to the market” in an interview with Vogue.

“I think women want a new choice, and what I mean by that is I think women have been told their entire lives that you have to suffer for beauty. Well, I don’t believe in that, and I would like to give women a new choice,” she said. “I thought about all the things that bother me about clothing, like those pieces that you just have so much difficulty finding that I would call the essentials of any woman’s wardrobe, and that’s what I geared this collection toward.”

Haart met her now estranged husband, Italian telecom magnate Silvio Scaglia, while working with La Perla. He purchased the brand at auction for $69 million euros in 2013, according to Reuters.

“He was the CEO. So he was there a lot,” Haart recalled in a New York Times interview in July 2021. “The first year of our interaction was me yelling at him. I was horrible to him. But I had a lot of respect for him. As sheltered as my life had been, his life had been the diametric opposite.”

It was Scaglia who appointed Haart as the CEO of Elite World Group in 2019, the same year they tied the knot, according to Page Six. He acquired the company in 2011.

“Silvio had been pressuring me to take over Elite for, like, nine months,” she told the Times. “I didn’t want to do it. Because in my mind, the modeling industry was young women being paraded in front of men getting told, you’re ugly, you’re fat. I wanted nothing to do with it. But he told me, ‘Look, research the industry, maybe you can change it.’”

Up until January 2022, Haart served in the leadership role. Her departure from the company stemmed from accusations of her misappropriating funds. Scaglia was convinced Haart had withdrawn $850,000 without receiving authorization to do so and later filed a lawsuit in an effort to hold her accountable.

A month after being let go as CEO of Elite, Haart filed for divorce. Although Scalglia dropped the lawsuit given Haart agreed not to pursue him for legal fees, per TMZ, their divorce hasn't been finalized yet.

Haart’s estranged husband (he's now engaged to Michelle-Marie pictured above) isn't a stranger to millions, either. In 2010, Scaglia had a net worth of $1 billion, according to Forbes. It isn't clear how much Scaglia is worth in 2023.

That same year, Scaglia was arrested for suspected tax evasion in the case of the alleged money laundering of more than 2 billion euros. He spent a year in jail and on house arrest, according to Reuters. He was acquitted of tax fraud in 2013, as the news service reported.