Prince Harry’s comfortable $1 million salary at BetterUp might finally be in jeopardy. It turns out that the funding the company has been receiving from the U.S. federal agency USAID could soon be cut off.
This potential financial shake-up comes thanks to efforts by Elon Musk and Donald Trump to curb wasteful and fraudulent spending of American taxpayer dollars. Since 2019, BetterUp has received a staggering $29 million in public funds, but now it looks like the party could be over. Frankly, it couldn’t happen to a more fitting organization. If you've ever wondered where your hard-earned tax dollars are going, look no further than BetterUp—and Harry’s hefty paycheck. It’s enough to leave taxpayers outraged.
BetterUp presents itself as a company focused on mental well-being and human potential, but according to whistleblowers, the reality behind the scenes is starkly different. Employees allegedly face grueling workloads in an environment that contradicts the company's own mission. The irony is hard to ignore—Harry, the same man who once dismissed the First Amendment as "bonkers," is collecting a seven-figure salary from a U.S.-based company dedicated to mental health. How does someone who doesn’t even reside in the country justify such a lucrative paycheck? Worse yet, while the company claims to prioritize well-being, insiders suggest that its own employees endure a toxic, high-pressure work culture. If this is what happens when celebrity and corporate responsibility intertwine, maybe it's time to stop treating famous faces as business leaders.
Harry isn’t the only one benefiting from BetterUp’s questionable operations. Reports suggest that the company’s internal culture is far from the supportive environment it claims to foster. Instead, it's described as a relentless pressure cooker where employees are driven to exhaustion, expected to meet unattainable targets, and left feeling undervalued. A former employee didn’t mince words when calling the workplace a "toxic train wreck." This is the same organization that sells itself as a champion of mental well-being services to other businesses. While Americans grapple with real crises—hurricanes, wildfires, and homelessness—taxpayer money is being funneled into what appears to be a corporate disaster. Those funds could have been used to aid disaster-stricken communities in the South or Hawaii or to address the growing homelessness crisis in California. Instead, they’ve helped sustain Harry’s lavish lifestyle with a million-dollar paycheck.
To make matters worse, BetterUp wasn’t just compensating Harry for engaging in vague corporate work—it was doing so with public funds. U.S. government money went straight into his bank account while he played the role of Chief Impact Officer, with little to no transparency about what his actual responsibilities entailed. His royal status and celebrity appeal made him the ideal figurehead for a company looking to boost its image, but it appears that American taxpayers are footing the bill for his high-end lifestyle.
At its core, this situation highlights a glaring issue with financial misallocation, where those in genuine need are repeatedly overlooked while the well-connected continue to profit. If the Doge project succeeds in shutting down wasteful spending like this, it will be a victory for taxpayers. BetterUp may soon find itself on the chopping block, and as for Harry, it’s time to stop living off the American public’s dime. There are far more pressing issues to address than funding a royal’s cushy corporate gig.
