Seven world titles, and the toll nobody saw

Layne Beachley won seven world surfing championships. She'll tell you what that cost, and what she does now to keep doing what she loves.

Layne Beachley is one of the most decorated surfers in the sport's history: seven world surfing championships, and a career spent at the very top of a discipline that punishes the body quietly and constantly. Almost none of that cost was ever visible from the beach.

The surf is still non-negotiable. She goes out around eight, late enough to have the lineup to herself, and it sits inside a morning routine she has built deliberately, in the order she wants it, around fueling capacity every single day.

That is the reason this partnership works. Layne had been taking curcumin for years before we ever spoke, on the advice of practitioners she trusts, so she came to us already comparing rather than discovering. She has one test for anything she puts her name to, which is whether it actually works for her. She ran that test before she answered us.

Today we're announcing Layne as an official KURK partner. We spoke to her on the beach, board in hand, which is the only place this conversation was ever going to happen. What follows is in her own words.

What was your body actually dealing with at the top of world surfing, the part people never saw?

"For anyone that's ever dedicated themselves to becoming the best at what they do, there's a lot that goes into the preparation for that performance. The result of that, or sometimes the cost of that, can be quite significant, especially on my body. I was dealing with a lot of pain and discomfort. I was also dealing with a lot of loneliness and mental health challenges that nobody really gets to see. I am a silent sufferer. I do suffer in silence. Those lessons taught me the importance of surrounding myself with good people, who I refer to as my dream team, and utilising products and tools that help me get the best out of myself every single day."

"I am a silent sufferer. I do suffer in silence."

Walk us through a normal day. Where does KURK actually fit?

"There's no such thing as a regular day for me. I have my own business. I love to travel. I love to surf. But the way that KURK fits into my daily routine is in the morning, and then post-exercise or post-training, because I need to naturally hydrate myself. So what that looks like is: every morning I meditate, then I start with my hydration schedule. I start with magnesium, then the micellar curcumin drops, followed by the D3+K2 spray."

And then the part of the day she protects fiercely:

"Then I tend to go for a surf around about eight o'clock, because that's when all the kids have gone to school and the briefcase bandits have gone to work, so I get the lineup to myself. You'd be surprised at how dehydrating surfing can be. I love to come home, drop some of the KURK Sport tabs in a big glass of water and hydrate my body. It brings me back to life."

There's a lot of talk about lifespan right now. What does healthspan mean to you?

"There's a lot of talk about lifespan, but healthspan I believe is way more important. It's one thing to have a long lifespan, but if you're not healthy and you're not happy, then you don't really want to be living. Healthspan is about living a long period of time in a healthy, sustainable way."

"That really means doing something you love every single day."

Describe a recent moment where quality of life felt real.

"When I retired from pro surfing, I had to learn the art of saying no without it being welded to guilt."

"Recently I found myself saying yes to too many things, and that meant saying no to me."

"I went on a week-long holiday to Noosa, and I decided not to take my trusty surfboard, because when I sat with my body and asked myself, 'What do I really need?', it screamed rest. And I listened. By listening, I was able to go on this holiday, immerse myself in nature and rest my weary bones. I really felt tired to the bone."

"When I chose to listen, and then chose to act on that knowing, I was able to heal from a genuine place of nourishment, and come back with an abundance of energy, motivation and a sense of purpose that really helps me get out of bed every day with a level of excitement. That's what really matters to me."

"I had to learn the art of saying no without it being welded to guilt."

Why is the Australian wellness scene the gold standard the rest of the world should aim for?

"The Australian wellness system is so heavily regulated and monitored, and that's why it's such a gold-star standard. You can trust every product that lands on your shelf, and if it suggests or claims to do something, it actually does it."

This is the part of Layne's thinking that lines up most closely with ours. Every claim earns its place. We lead with evidence, not exaggeration. If we haven't tested it, we won't say it. If we have, we'll show our work.

What would you say to a woman in her 50s who's starting to feel her body change?

"When I turned 50, my body changed a lot because I experienced menopause early, and for a prolonged period of time. The changes in my body were significant and challenging to embrace. So for any woman going through changes, my advice to you is: it's normal. Don't resist it, because what you resist persists. And if you're kind of like me, and you have a bit of an inner critic that will drive you mad, the changes that you see aren't what you want to see, and it's going to cause a lot of self-criticism."

"When I was close to 50 and I was going through menopause, my body changed in ways that I did not see coming, and it was really hard for me to embrace them. But it was that lack of compassion that prolonged the pain and suffering and the dissatisfaction I had with my body.

The good thing is, you can do something about it. You can take great products, you can move your body, but it really starts with self-compassion and kindness. So for any woman going through changes that you don't like, accept that it's a normal part of life. But you can do something about it, and it's not your lot."

"It's a normal part of life. But you can do something about it, and it's not your lot."

She's also clear that nobody should be working it out alone:

"If you don't have a good practitioner that gives you guidance on what can help you live a happier, healthier, longer life, then find one. I'm very fortunate that I have great practitioners in my life, and I've got a very trusted source who put me onto things like curcumin and magnesium and a better diet for the stage that I'm at in my life."