Bethany Christine Meyers (born May 24, 1986) is an American fitness and lifestyle entrepreneur. They are the founder and chief executive officer of ''be.come'', an exercise fitness program and mobile application.

Early life

Meyers grew up outside of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

and was raised in a conservative, Christian family. Meyers' father died when they were 10 years old. Their mother later remarried. Meyers attended a private Christian school affiliated with their church, and was a competitive cheerleader. They were cut from their school sports teams and cheerleading squad and claimed they were harassed by school administrators after their family started attending a more progressive church. At 16 years old, Meyers transferred to a public high school located in Crystal City, Missouri. Meyers attended university in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, studying public relations. They struggled with

bulimia nervosa Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight. The aim of this activity is to expel the body of calories eate ...

and

anorexia nervosa Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gr ...

while in college.

Career

Meyers moved from Chicago to Los Angeles to work in public relations. Not long after, they quit their job and began working at a fitness studio that specialized in Megaformer

pilates Pilates (; ) is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named. Pilates called his method "Contrology". It is practiced worldwide, especially in countries suc ...

routines. After a coworker opened a fitness studio in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Meyers moved to Texas and began working there, and later worked as a fitness instructor at SLT Studio in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

before launching their own workout and fitness business called ''be.come''. The firm's workouts are a mixture of pilates, yoga, and strength training. They gained notability on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

for their workout tutorials and healthy lifestyle posts. In July 2018 Meyers, launched the fitness app for ''be.come,'' specializing in body-positive workouts. Meyers releases weekly 25-minute workout routines through the app, teaches fitness classes online through the ''be.come'' app and website, and taught classes at Studio B in Manhattan before opening a workout facility in

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

in September 2018. In 2018, Meyers and

Nico Tortorella Nico Tortorella (born July 30, 1988) is an American actor and model, known for roles in filmsincluding ''Scream 4'', the Fox crime drama series ''The Following'' (2013–2015), and the TV Land comedy-drama series '' Younger'' (2015–2021). Fro ...

announced they were working on filming a global television show focusing on gender, sexuality and relationships. In December 2018, they partnered with Lovers, a sex toy retailer, to launch a private label under the campaign #WeAreLovers. In May 2018, Meyers and Tortorella co-hosted the 33rd

AIDS Walk New York AIDS Walk New York is an annual fundraising walkathon, held in Central Park, that benefits Gay Men's Health Crisis and over 50 other local AIDS service organizations. Founded in 1986, it is now the largest walkathon in the world, and the largest AI ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

, raising $4,416,919. In December 2018, Meyers gave a

TED talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

on empowerment and body neutrality.

Personal life

Meyers uses ''

they In Modern English, ''they'' is a third-person pronoun relating to a grammatical subject. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''they'' has five distinct word forms: * ''they'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''them'': the accusat ...

''/she pronouns and identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

and

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

. In 2017 they proposed to actor

, whom they met in college, after eleven years of dating. On March 9, 2018, Meyers and Tortorella married in a civil ceremony at a Manhattan City Clerk's office before exchanging vows at St. Paul's Chapel, an Episcopal church and parish church of Trinity Church Wall Street. They both wore gender non-conforming outfits designed by Andrew Morrison with crowns. Meyers and Tortorella are in a polyamorous marriage and both openly date other people. On 27 September 2018, in the wake of allegations of sexual assault made against

Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh ( ; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since Oc ...

Christine Blasey Ford Christine Margaret Blasey Ford ( ; born November 1966) is an American professor of psychology at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She specializes in designing statistical models f ...

during his nomination for the Supreme Court, Meyers posted on social media about their experience being sexually assaulted. Meyers had been sexually assaulted by a former boyfriend and thought about coming forward during the

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

, but did not until hearing Ford's testimony.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyers, Bethany C. Living people 1987 births American exercise instructors American former Protestants American Internet celebrities American businesspeople American LGBT rights activists American LGBT businesspeople American non-binary people American bisexual people LGBT people from Missouri Non-binary activists Polyamorous people 21st-century American LGBT people Activists from Missouri Bisexual non-binary people