Dhillan Bhardwaj has achieved the sort of success most people his age only dream about. Indeed, from humble beginnings he turned himself into a teenage millionaire – and a reality TV personality in his native Britain. But the now-21-year-old, star of the Channel 4 show Rich Kids Go Shopping, was overwhelmed when his heroine Rihanna got in touch.
Bhardwaj grew up in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, living an ordinary life. His family weren’t poor, but they weren’t rich either. “I was at secondary school and I couldn’t afford the things that my friends had,” he told website Snap.pa in 2016. “I remember taking my final exams and going to school in non-uniform.” Uniform is required at most British schools, but parents and students can’t always afford it.
Bhardwaj described himself to Snap.pa as having “come from nothing.” But that didn’t stop him wanting cool clothes – he just had to make them himself. With little else but YouTube videos to go on, he started to create tie-dye T-shirts to wear to school. His friends were impressed, and the young man wondered whether a career in fashion might be on the cards.
