Spoof that left Ella choking on her avocado
IT was meant as a light-hearted take on the clean-eating phenomenon.
But when Bella Younger set up an Instagram page filled with photos of junk food called Deliciously Stella – a parody of healthy-eating guru Ella Mills’ Deliciously Ella brand – the latter was not amused.
And when Miss Younger, 29, landed a book deal for a satirical cookbook, it was the last straw. Lawyers for her rival tried to block the book from being published – but it was protected under a law that allows for parody.
Mrs Mills, who is related to the Sainsbury family, has advocated clean eating, which involves cutting out processed food. The 26year-old has published a series of Deliciously Ella cookbooks and has a strong following on Instagram, where she posts pictures of recipes such as cacao and avocado mousse, and sweet potato, fennel and quinoa salad.
Meanwhile the Deliciously Stella page features a picture of Miss Younger lying on the grass with Stella Artois cans, with the caption: ‘Working on my six pack in the park. #abs.’ Another recent snap of her with a sausage roll was captioned: ‘Looking to lose those last minute rolls before your summer holiday?’ Her page has been endorsed by stars such as Davina McCall and Claudia Winkleman.
A source said: ‘Ella was obviously aware of Bella because she has a huge online following. When Bella landed the book deal, she decided to contact Ella by email to let her know. Despite it so obviously being a joke recipe book, Ella did not take too kindly to it.’
Miss Younger’s publishers, Penguin, had to get involved when Mrs Mills’ lawyers complained, but a 2014 law allows people to use copyrighted material for parody without the original author’s permission – so the book went ahead. The source added: ‘It’s safe to say the pair are not on the friendliest of terms now.’
Miss Younger, who is set to launch a video series on Instagram, said she and Mrs Mills are ‘not pals’, adding: ‘These clean-eating girls are very beautiful and slim, but ... that’s down to genetics, not how many avocados you eat. I set up the account to try to show people should aim to be something other than just beautiful and thin.’ Mrs Mills did not respond to requests for a comment last night.