The creator of Spanx has a billion reasons to be happy. She has been named by Forbes Magazine as the youngest self-made woman to ever make the billionaires list. INSIDE EDITION talks to the excited billionaire.
Sarah Blakely has a billion reasons to be happy.
Blakely is on the new cover of Forbes Magazine. At age 41, she's the youngest self-made woman ever to make "The Billionaires List".
And she did it without an inheritance. How? By investing her entire life savings of $5,000 in a dream she called "Spanx."
That was twelve years ago and now, the body-slimming product she created has ballooned into a billion-dollar industry.
INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent asked her, "What are Spanx?"
"Spanx are undergarments that make women feel better, they make you look about five pounds thinner. They tone you up, firm you up," she told Trent.
At Zitomer's and Bloomingdale's stores, and thousands of others like it across the USA, Spanx are a huge seller. And they're not just for women anymore. They have made a line of undershirts for men.
Blakely said, "It is like the cotton undershirt that guys are used to, but smarter."
Brooke Shields, Jessica Alba, and Gwyneth Paltrow wouldn't walk the red carpet without Spanx. Octavia Spencer said she wears three pairs at a time.
Spencer said to Good Morning America, "Two pairs? I am going to go for three!"
But Blakely's biggest break came when Oprah Winfrey gave Spanx a big thumbs-up back in 2000.
Oprah said on her show, "Spanx have revolutionized our lives."
With the money rolling in, the suddenly rich Blakely bought a townhouse in Atlanta, Georgia.
On the Spanx DVD she said, "Hello. Welcome to my home. This is my living room - no furniture. When you make it overnight, you buy a house and you have no furniture."
She's a funny lady, so it may not surprise you to learn that before she created Spanx, Blakely was a stand-up comediene.
She said in stand-up routine, "My parents want me to get married. With the current divorce rate? I wouldn't go hang gliding if they told me there was a 60% chance I wouldn't make it."
These days, Blakely's views about marriage have changed - she's happily married and the mother of a two year old boy.
"I did change by tune. I am happily married, I have been married for three-and-a-half years," said Blakely.
And if you were wondering if she wears her own product, she said, "Of course."
