{"id":45767,"date":"2025-09-27T04:58:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T04:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/45767\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T04:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T04:58:06","slug":"chelsea-winter-criticises-rnz-story-on-her-planned-luxury-womens-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/45767\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Winter criticises RNZ story on her planned luxury women\u2019s retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nourish & Bloom was Winter\u2019s expansion from cookbook author<\/a> into the growing $11 trillion global wellness industry, RNZ reported this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s where followers look for meaning and guidance in sound and energy healing, alchemy (a mystic form of something close to chemistry), breath work, and a host of other alternative and fringe practices that often have little to no scientific evidence that they work,\u201d the state broadcaster reported, noting a Business Insider story that said \u201cinfluencers\u201d such as Winter<\/a> were increasingly using in-person events to further build their communities and create revenue streams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Winter could do a couple of these a year, that is a tidy income,\u201d Massey University marketing professor Bodo Lang told RNZ, adding such events were also an opportunity for creating more content and turning attendees into \u201cword of mouth agents\u201d.<\/p>\n

Many followers would\u2019ve spent years in a \u201cparasocial\u201d relationship \u2013 a non-reciprocal connection<\/a> \u2013 with Winter and would aspire to get closer to her and then spread the word, Lang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is converting your largely passive, possibly loss-making audience online into a community, customers and ultimately super fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winter didn\u2019t respond to RNZ\u2019s request for comment, the broadcaster wrote.<\/p>\n

But the 41-year-old posted a more than 600-word response on her Instagram this morning.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d initially declined to comment to RNZ as \u201cI could already feel the narrative had been shaped\u201d, Winter wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] I feel it\u2019s important to speak \u2013 not from defensiveness, but from devotion to truth. The article was under-researched, speculative, and in many places, simply inaccurate.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirstly, I\u2019d like to correct something: this retreat is not a \u2018$10,000 experience\u2019. The twin-share option is $6888 for three nights at one of New Zealand\u2019s most prestigious luxury lodges, with all meals, accommodation, guided sessions, and world-class facilitators included \u2013 some of whom are flying in from overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would cost more to book three nights at Flockhill privately, without the retreat inclusions, Winter wrote.<\/p>\n

Her career as a bestselling cookbook author, who is soon to release her eighth book, meant she\u2019d spent the past 13 years \u201cpouring my heart into nourishing this country\u201d, even in challenging times, \u201cbecause I believe in women empowering women\u201d.<\/p>\n

In recent years she had also begun sharing more of the self-care and \u201cpersonal evolution\u201d that allowed her to \u201cpour from a full cup even while raising two beautiful boys as a solo mum\u201d.<\/p>\n

This included the retreat and more affordable options would follow, Winter wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I create now is made with deep care, purpose and intent. To reduce me to an \u2018influencer\u2019 marketing a generic luxury wellness trip solely for profit misses the point entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChelseaChelsea Winter has published seven cook books and an eighth is on the way soon. File photo \/ Andrew Warner<\/p>\n

She worked hard to \u201cwalk in truth, to live in integrity, and to help light the path for others\u201d, and the retreat was the start of something big, she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis retreat is not a gimmick. It is the most heart-led offering I have ever created\u2026 for these women, it will be life-changing and\u2026 it\u2019s their experience, their transformation, and their truth that matters most.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wouldn\u2019t be \u201cdiminished, discredited or shamed\u201d, Winter wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot by clickbait. Not by outdated narratives. And certainly not by those who feel uncomfortable when women remember their power.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nourish & Bloom was Winter\u2019s expansion from cookbook author into the growing $11 trillion global wellness industry, RNZ…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[40326,28119,1863,10532,39307,12864,8231,40325,40328,1364,2250,206,111,43,139,40327,69,90,6744,26346,2887,11588,45,2687,40329,427,5510,6923,23644,2248,2834],"class_list":["post-45767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-68009400ahead","tag-amp","tag-back","tag-bloom","tag-chelsea","tag-criticises","tag-event","tag-fourday","tag-gimmick","tag-her","tag-longer","tag-luxury","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nourish","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-place","tag-planned","tag-release","tag-retreat","tag-rnz","tag-saying","tag-serves","tag-story","tag-wellness","tag-what","tag-winter","tag-women","tag-womens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}