Is Beyoncé Vegan? No, and She Said So Herself

Few “is X vegan” questions are as self-renewing as Beyoncé’s, and it’s her own fault, in the best way. She co-owns a plant-based meal company. She’s done the famous 22-day plant-based challenge on camera. She’s written forewords to plant-based diet books. So people reasonably assume she’s vegan and Google it to confirm.

Then they find the quote, and the quote settles it. In a 2015 email to the New York Times, Beyoncé wrote: “First, it’s important that you know I am not a vegan.” She has never taken it back.

Where the confusion comes from

In December 2013, Beyoncé and Jay-Z took on a 22-day plant-based challenge designed by exercise physiologist Marco Borges. The idea was habit-formation: roughly 21 days to build one, so by day 22 plant-based eating feels normal. It worked well enough that they built a business on it: 22 Days Nutrition, a plant-based meal-delivery company the couple co-own. Beyoncé wrote the foreword to Borges’ bestseller The 22-Day Revolution.

So the plant-based footprint is real and substantial. What’s missing is the vegan label, and that’s not an oversight. It’s a choice she’s stated clearly.

What “part-time plant-based” actually means

Per Borges, Beyoncé eats a plant-based breakfast daily and does meatless Mondays. The rest of the time, animal products are on the menu. Her own framing, via BET: “I still eat meat and it’s all about balance, but absolutely I make better choices.” And in a September 2024 GQ interview she said she’d “given up meat, except for turkey, this summer”, which tells you the reduction is seasonal and health-driven, not an ethical line.

For a vegan magazine, honesty means not claiming her. Beyoncé is a powerful plant-based ambassador who’s put millions of eyeballs on meatless eating. She is not vegan, and pretending otherwise helps no one.

The vegan-ish timeline, tap to expand

Fact or fiction?

Quiz: how well do you know Beyoncé’s diet?

Is Beyoncé vegan in 2026?

No, and she’s been consistent about it for a decade. She’s a plant-based advocate and business owner who eats a plant-based breakfast, does meatless Mondays, and reaches for the occasional 22-day reset. That’s genuinely useful for the movement. It just isn’t veganism, and she’d be the first to tell you so.

For pop stars who did go all the way, the contrast is next door:

• Is Billie Eilish vegan? Yes, and loud about it
• Is Ariana Grande vegan? Plant-based, with asterisks
• Is Miley Cyrus vegan? Was, then wasn’t

Photo: Alex Johnson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons