‘Darkness was closing in': Influencer Kerwin Rae's death leaves uncomfortable legacy for fans
When Kerwin Rae suddenly passed away on October 18 last year, the popular motivational speaker and business coach left behind a shocked and grief-stricken community of fans and dedicated members of his Business Mastery organisation.
Over more than a decade, the 50-year-old entrepreneur from Byron Bay had amassed millions of social media followers and claimed to have helped more than 100,000 businesses around the world with his inspiring life story and 'revolutionary, no bulls**t approach to business growth and personal transformation'.
But as the shock fades more than six months on from his death, members of Mr Rae's $50,000-a-year club known as K2 Elite Business Accelerator are asking uncomfortable questions and even requesting refunds or early exits — flatly refused by the company which has vowed that the 'K-Team' will carry on his legacy.
'Kerwin's greatest passion was being a devoted father and his life's mission was to help people succeed,' the website's dedication reads.
'In 2024 Kerwin passed away but his legacy and positive influence will live on forever. His team continue to honour his mission by sharing his inspiring lessons and blueprint for success with the K2 Elite Community and with business owners around the world.'
'I find it weird they've never mentioned he [allegedly] took his own life,' said one long-time associate of Mr Rae, who was not a Business Mastery member.
The man, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, 'knew Kerwin before he was Kerwin' and said he was deeply saddened but not surprised to learn of the motivational speaker's reported suicide.
But he said Mr Rae's troubled final years, and the manner of his death, were directly relevant to the product still being sold by K2.
'It's terrible he did, but to perpetuate the lie after his death … the life coach, the success coach — if you're a swimming teacher and I'm paying you to learn to swim and you drowned, why the f**k am I still turning up to swimming lessons?' he said.
Before his rise to fame Mr Rae had taken a 'course in how to hypnotise people onstage' and had 'modelled himself off Tony Robbins', the man claimed.
But after attending one of K2's workshops, and observing Mr Rae's flashy displays of wealth, the man said he was left with the impression that much of the entrepreneur's success was a facade intended to up-sell attendees into more expensive seminars and ultimately the $50,000-a-year membership.
'[Mr Rae] was like, 'We do $1 billion a year.' [I thought], you mean you've got 1000 people in K2 doing $1 million a year,' he said.
'You frame it that way so everyone in that room thinks you're super-successful. It's a bit like me owning a movie theatre, taking everybody's combined earnings and saying, 'Last night our audience did $20 million.' What I saw [onstage] was someone who desperately needs to make payroll.'
Fiona Morris, 46, a cleaning business owner and industry coach, said it was a 'really difficult situation'.
'Kerwin was part of a coaching product that I purchased — a wonderful, charismatic, robust, group coaching but a product nonetheless — and in a similar way that we might be attracted to purchase something from a business, we're led there for reasons and those reasons can sometimes disappear,' she said.
'The wheels were falling off for a long time before he passed away. I remember raising issues in August when he didn't show up [to an event] on the Gold Coast.'
Ms Morris, who spent $56,000 with K2 Elite and has an outstanding bill of $7000, said when Mr Rae died the roughly 300 members and thousands more seminar attendees were 'told very little'.
She asked to be released and possibly return at a later date. 'I wanted to finish my commitment but the product for me stopped working,' she said.
Around two weeks after his death, Business Mastery hosted a Zoom meeting where those leading the discussion 'talked in circles', according to Ms Morris.
'I got off these calls more confused and our businesses certainly were not the focus — I waited over a month for this to change and it did not,' she said.
'I think they took advantage. There was a lot of talk about 'we are family'. I'm not his friend, I didn't get invited to his funeral. They all keep talking about 'legacy', they can't even tell me what his legacy is. It's such a dumpster fire but there's just not enough Kool-Aid to put it out anymore.'
As tragic as it was, Ms Morris believes the fact that Mr Rae may have committed suicide 'changes a lot for a lot of people'.
'I want to be in a room where I know the truth and values and it became evident watching the leadership behaviour,' she said.
'I was hoping an open and honest discussion about burnout and mental health may have opened up and it just didn't come. Unfortunately I think Business Mastery are for whatever reason … gatekeeping the truth, [the legacy] they are pretending exists, but the reality for most people is they have left confused, and not having worked on their business.'
Ms Morris stresses that for the first six months of her membership while Mr Rae was actively participating 'I got a lot of value'.
'I learnt a lot, I did alter my leadership, I changed in ways that aren't monetary,' she said.
'Yes, we've grown. It's not one or the other, it's both — I had a wonderful experience, I loved Kerwin and all the people in that room but I'm also a bit angry and a bit hurt and decided to move away from it until I know who and what is exactly this 'legacy'.'
Business Mastery has been contacted for comment.
Announcing his death on social media in October, Mr Rae's family described their 'unimaginable sense of loss' but provided few answers for his grieving followers.
'Kerwin was a force of nature, there are countless stories to be told and so many words that could describe the epic human he was, but right now we are too overwhelmed to express them,' the family wrote. 'To everyone who had the privilege of knowing him — whether as a friend, mate, mentor, or family member — please keep this extraordinary soul in your thoughts and hearts.'
No cause of death was given.
Rumours of Mr Rae's suicide had been swirling for months until Kristen Veronica, his ex-wife and mother of his son Noah, shared a lengthy letter to his community in April detailing Mr Rae's troubled final years in tragic detail.
'Kerwin was very open in recent years about his mental health struggles since his second stroke in 2021,' she wrote.
'Personally, I saw the greatest impact on his mental health after he had Covid in April 2022. It was then that the suicidal ideation began. He went through incredible darkness for several months and I was afraid for his life.
'He took time away from the business and put 100 per cent of his energy into his recovery. Kerwin never did things by halves — and this was no exception. His weeks were full of a myriad of therapies, gym sessions, and doing his best to get his health, capacity, and his life back.'
Ms Veronica said during this period when Mr Rae was unwell he was unable to have their son for several months, 'so instead we invited him over to our house for weekly family dinners'. 'Kerwin would often cry during these visits,' she wrote.
'It was the most broken I had ever seen him, however it was also the most real. The mask was off, the walls were down, and he was baring the truth of his soul. We spoke on the phone daily during this time, and he shared many of his most tender and vulnerable feelings about himself, his life, his purpose, his confusion, his despair, his love for Noah, and his regrets. It was heartbreaking and beautiful to witness him in that state.'
Mr Rae's mental and physical health slowly recovered but 'sadly, it didn't last, and early last year he felt himself slipping again'.
'He wasn't sleeping, he was cognitively declining, his body and his health were failing him, and his suicidal ideation returned with a vengeance,' she wrote.
'He was scared. He was losing hope. The darkness was closing in on him. The tools that had helped him recover the first time around weren't having the same effect. He still persisted and put everything he had into getting well.
'He explored new approaches, and had a handful of dedicated friends who put in so much care and love supporting him through those final months. This was a dark time for Kerwin. Tragically, the darkness took hold, and in the early hours of Friday, October 18, 2024, Kerwin took his life.'
Ms Veronica went on to discuss the status of the business since Mr Rae's death.
'Since his passing, I am aware that there's been some speculation around how he died and some criticism of his team continuing the running of events,' she wrote.
'I feel comfortable sharing with you how he passed, as Kerwin openly share of his struggles with depression, suicidal ideation and health challenges over the last couple of years. He loved helping people, and I believe that Kerwin can still help people in his death, as he did in his life.
'He has a legacy that has supported hundreds of thousands, if not millions throughout his lifetime, and he was at the helm of a community who overwhelmingly want to continue on, in his honour.'
She added that Mr Rae's estate 'has a lot of complexity to it'.
'Legally the business needs to remain open as 'business as usual' while the legal formalities (that take AGES) ensue,' she said.
'In addition to this legal requirement, it's also in the best interest of the beneficiaries of Kerwin's will. I know the reasons why these decisions have been made and am in support of them. As Noah's mother, I respectfully ask that the boycotts and harmful remarks about the continued operation of the business come to an end. Kerwin's team, his community, his friends, and his family are all still grieving this tremendous loss, and further division is unhelpful and damaging.
'Kerwin was a complex man. There were many sides to him that most people don't know — even the few people closest to him didn't know all of him. Unfortunately, I've witnessed a lot of blame and anger being misdirected, and misinformation being shared by some family members and close friends that has added fuel to an already emotional community, each grieving in their own way for the loss of who Kerwin was to them. Kerwin wouldn't want this. I know that.'
Ms Veronica has been contacted for comment.
Consumer advocate Adam Glezer, who is seeking refunds or cancellations for a number of Business Mastery clients, said those in Mr Rae's course 'were treated no differently from the general public, despite believing they were part of a 'family''.
'To me, that shows the 'family' narrative was simply a tool to extract as much money from people as possible,' he said.
'Once Kerwin passed, that angle was all that remained. I believe the decision-makers need to take a long, hard look at themselves. If they're selling the idea of being one big family, is this really how they'd treat their own? If so, that says a lot.'
Mr Glezer said whether clients had a right to be upset at not being told about the manner of Mr Rae's death 'comes down to personal opinion'.
'If people found value in the courses and felt they were helpful, then how he died or what happened in his private life is irrelevant,' he said.
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