Marbella’s glittering mirage: How a Spanish resort became ground zero for the Manosphere’s real-world empire |
For decades, Marbella has thrived on its carefully curated image: a Mediterranean playground of gleaming supercars, champagne lunches along the Golden Mile, and palatial villas tucked into the foothills of the Sierra Blanca. The city’s reputation for glamour, money, and excess has long attracted the wealthy, the infamous, and everyone in between. But in recent years, Marbella’s pristine beaches and sun-soaked marinas have drawn an entirely new class of visitor: a community of male influencers, self-styled entrepreneurs, and self-help ideologues who orbit around the sprawling constellation known as the “manosphere.”
Once a largely online phenomenon, the manosphere – a loose and often troubling network of male-centric digital communities that promote everything from fitness and financial success to misogyny masked as self-development – is increasingly establishing real, physical outposts. And no place represents this shift more starkly than Marbella, a city whose glamour and libertine atmosphere offer an ideal backdrop for men looking to craft and amplify lifestyles built on wealth, dominance, and curated masculinity.
In doing so, these influencers – some closely linked to controversial figures such as Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan – are transforming Marbella from a resort town into a stage for a new hyper-masculine performance culture. Their presence raises urgent questions about misogyny, youth radicalization, and the ease with which real-world communities can solidify digital extremism.
A rooftop toast and the new brotherhood
The metamorphosis of Marbella into a manosphere hub became particularly visible during a private rooftop event at the end of September. Beneath a dusky sky, a carefully selected group of men – all sharp suits, polished loafers, and heavy wristwatches – gathered to celebrate the European debut of Tristan Tate’s latest luxury tequila. Though Tristan himself joined only via video call, his digital presence was enough to electrify the group.
For attendees, this was not merely a tasting; it was a badge of access, a signifier that they had joined a rarefied circle tied to the powerful Tate brand. The Tate brothers – already infamous for their online empire, polarizing rhetoric, and ongoing criminal cases in both the UK and Romania – have long cultivated an aesthetic of wealth and brotherhood. Marbella, with its upscale clubs and aura of exclusivity, has become the perfect setting for their disciples and associates to replicate that model offline.
Through social circles, shared business ventures, and a network of podcasts and promotional collaborations, these influencers use Marbella as a staging ground. Some are permanent residents; others circulate through the city for networking sessions, brand launches, or mastermind retreats. Their activities –........